The Best Kept Secret
by Bork and Beans
Summary: "Why does he know your name Lor?" Jim asked her. "Because I know him, but he's lied to me," she responded with a wounded look on her face. Khan looked at her from behind his glass prison, his expression read nothing but malice against Bones and Jim, and yet when he looked at her his eyes changed. But she couldn't hold his gaze and turned to leave the room quickly. KhanxOC
1. Chapter 1

**BaB: Hey readers!**

** BaB here just setting the ground rules and all that spiffyness. First off I apologize to any hardcore fans of Star Trek if I make any mistakes, I'm going off the more recent Into Darkness movie and am in the process of watching the originals. Just correct me when I'm wrong, say, hey BaB, you got this wrong and it's bugging me! I might fix it.**

**Also please excuse my grammar mistakes and misspellings I try to make sure to read through it and fix anything but sometimes my eyes skip things over.**

**Anyway, I do not own anything except for my OC, disclaimer, disclaimer. Hope you enjoy the story.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

When she tried to punch him in the stomach he caught her hand deftly, twisting it out of the way as she used a bit of momentum to kick for his legs, he took the blow without moving and caught her leg. Loralie teetered a bit on her remaining foot before the man shoved it towards her, forcing her back to come into contact with the wall behind her. He reached for her throat but she ducked away from him and her fist connected with his shoulder, though she had been aiming for his cheek.

"I tire of this," he muttered as if he were bored. He caught Loralie's outstretched arm and twisted it behind her back, using his other arm to restrain her body she huffed and snarled at him.

Their bodies were touching, had Loralie been in another situation she would have blushed with embarrassment, she could even hear his heart beating through his chest. But this was no time to get heated about body contact, they were fighting each other and it was obvious that she was losing. It didn't matter that she was better than almost everyone else had been at the academy, she was even better than Spock at times. None of it mattered at all because this man was better, every punch she threw, every kick, it was like he was reading her mind. Quite frankly she was getting sick of it.

"Then let me," she grunted trying to shake free of his grasp. "Go," her voice gave out as he tightened his grip.

"Shame it turned into this, I only wanted to talk," he whispered into her ear.

Growling deeply Loralie let her legs give out so that he was holding her up completely, his grip sagged only slightly but she used it against him by pushing off the wall with her left leg powerfully. All too quickly he let go of her, throwing off her balance she stumbled and glared up at him defiantly.

"Maybe if you'd knocked on my door like a normal person I would've considered having a conversation," her voice was icy. "But not when you've followed me home," she held up her fists again.

0-0-0-0

"Dr. Finch, Dr. McCoy is looking for you," a soft voice called to the woman.

Loralie had been sitting at one of the many desks in the room and looking over a few reports of diseases when a young fidgety nurse called for her to go to Bones; he was teaching a few rookies how to operate on a moving shuttle. The kids were new editions to the Enterprise and Bones hated it when his nurses sucked, he tried to get Loralie to teach them but she refused on the account of having work to do. Most of the kids frowned when they saw that they were going to be stuck with a grumpy Bones as their teacher, and she couldn't blame them.

"Damnit Lor, just come over here!" She heard Bones shout from across the room. She recognized the tone he was using and picked up her pace a little until she was in front of him and his, mess. There was blood on his clothes, face, and everywhere else in the small space about them.

"You didn't blow up the rookies did you?" She asked setting her face sternly.

"I wish," he growled wiping his hands of some blood.

Letting a small smile break out onto her face Bones glared at her while she tried her best to hide her humor at seeing him like this, it was always funny when Bones's plans backfired on him. Reaching for a spare rag she started to clean up some of the blood before he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bloody mess of a room.

"Where are we going?" She mumbled letting the rag fall to the ground.

"Pike is calling us in for a meeting," he growled letting her go once she was walking the same pace as him. "Something about the next mission to a new planet," he said watching to see how his friend would react.

"New planet?" Loralie's eyes lit up upon hearing what Bones had to say.

"I knew you'd be excited," he chuckled shortly.

Anything that had to do with new planets and species was enticing to Loralie, ever since she was a child she'd shown interest in different planets and cultures. When it came to knowledge about the different species and races on planets she was one of the best that Starfleet had to offer. Also carrying an interest for rare diseases was just a bonus for her, a lot of captains wanted her aboard their ship, but Jim had gotten to her first.

They'd met at the Academy in combat class, Lor had taken him out quite quickly, much to his dismay, he'd tried to flirt with her beforehand so it only added to his embarrassment. There was little to no one who could beat her in combat, Jim was no exception, but that didn't stop him from flirting with her afterwards as well. She was a stunning specimen, another of the reasons why everyone wanted her on their ship. With her cool green eyes, long black hair, and silky skin it was a wonder to everyone how she was so good at fighting in the first place.

"Lor, Bones," Jim greeted them when they arrived. He didn't even question the doctor about his attire that still had bloodstains on it, he was used to seeing some sort of bodily fluid on him by now. "Don't touch me," he added back to him with a disgusted face.

"Don't flatter yourself," Bones grumbled pushing past him into the room. Lor followed him with an amused smile on her face, glancing at Jim before going to sit down next to her doctor friend she waited for the meeting to start.

In two weeks time they would be heading towards a planet that was inhabited by a rather new civilization that they knew nothing about. Their task was to observe the race from a safe distance and determine whether or not the planet would be useful to Starfleet at all. They were not to be seen by the developing species, their very appearance would alter anything that the culture would do.

Lor was only slightly excited now, she'd done studies on plenty of under established civilizations, and they more or less all went through the same process. Create religion, language, establish traveling means, create the wheel, and so on. All she had left to look forward to was the make-up of the planet; it was one of the more intriguing aspects of all new worlds they came across. There were planets with black water and green skies, or lands that never even saw a sun. How each species thrived on their respective planets was always something Lor enjoyed studying.

Getting up to leave Pike finished by looking at Loralie.

"I expect a detailed report," he said holding her eyes for a few moments.

"Only the best," she assured him. Their eyes broke contact and Lor looked over at Jim to see that he was giving her _that_ look again. Every time she wrote a report he would read it and make sure there was nothing too exposing about his orders, once he'd let it slip and Jim had been reported for destroying a central water course for a smaller species.

"I look forward to reading it as well," Jim said giving her a grin. Pike looked between the two of them before walking out the door with a sigh, the rest of the people in the room shuffled out after him except for Bones, Jim, and Spock.

"Perhaps I will read it, Dr. Finch's reports are always most accurate," Spock said butting into the conversation.

"First officer does not have permission to read it," Jim said before looking away from Lor with a laugh. Sometimes Lor wondered why Jim kept Spock as First Officer if he bugged the crap out of him so much. "How do you know they're accurate?" He asked turning towards the Vulcan suddenly.

Spock looked like he was about to jump off into some long conversation before Jim stopped him by walking away.

"How alarmed do you think the other nurses were when they saw that room?" Lor asked Bones with a smirk.

"More than a turkey at Thanksgiving dinner," he muttered following Spock and Jim out of the room. Lor was always fond of the metaphors and stuff that came out of Bones when he was trying to relate something to everyone. Though no one else seemed to appreciate them as much it was comical to see Jim's face after every new one he said.

Spock dismissed himself from their little group saying he had to ask Uhura something, though all of them were pretty sure what he was really doing they bid farewell to him before making their way towards a cafeteria. Lor hadn't eaten anything since she'd woken more than thirteen hours ago and Jim was always ready to eat when he saw that he could flirt with some pretty girl sitting across from them. Bones mumbled something about bloody bed sheets and left as soon as Jim got up to start his business, the doctor always hated staying behind when their captain decided it was time for some messing around.

When Lor finished her food she left Jim to whoever it was that he was currently talking to before heading back to her office to finish up some work until it was time to go home.

The streets were full of people on their lunch breaks and Lor had only slight trouble pushing her way through the mob on the way to the office. At one point she ran right into the shoulder of a man who turned to look at her sharply before going on his way, she hadn't gotten a good look at him but was sure he was made of metal or something. The way he kept walking made it seem like Lor wasn't even there at all. Finally when she got to the building she worked in when she was not on the Enterprise she saw that it was empty, of course there were only ever two or three of them in there at a time anyway. A note on her coworker's desk read that he had been feeling feverish and since Lor had been gone away to Bones's building he couldn't ask for medicine. The bugger had gone home early. Of course there was always the receptionist, but Lor never really counted her as a accomplice.

Settling down to her work Lor almost didn't notice when someone had entered the building and made it to the receptionist. Her eyes immediately went to his form as she saw that he was definitely eye candy to the receptionist who pointed him in her direction. His eyes were what caught her first; they held each other's stare while he walked towards her desk with even steps. Tearing her eyes away from his finally Lor went back to looking at her work, she could still feel the stare of his icy eyes bearing into her form.

"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?" She asked politely. When it came to talking to her friends she'd give them a once over before ignoring their presence completely, but that hardly qualified when it came to strangers.

Bringing her eyes back up to him she grazed them across his body, taking in his tall stature and overbearing aura Lor had to admit that he was quite handsome, but it took more than looks to win her over. Jim had looks, all women could agree to that, but he was more or less the kind of jerk that she was friends with, not someone she'd be interested in. This man had the looks going in his favor definitely, but Lor wasn't taken with him like her receptionist.

"Dr. Loralie Finch?" The man asked in a deep voice that caught her attention. A baritone voice that demanded her attention she looked up at him quizzically, his eyes caught her again and she couldn't help a shiver that passed through her. There was something about him that seemed off.

"You're not a robot are you?" She asked standing up slowly.

The man's expression didn't change, if anything the air seemed to have gotten colder around them, as if her question had gotten a rise out of him that she could not see.

"Certainly not Loralie," he answered shortly. She was surprised that he'd used her first name right off the bat, she certainly didn't know this man and it was only courteous that one be addresses by their last name until given other instruction.

"And who are you?" She asked letting her eyes cloud over slightly. Whoever this man was he wasn't winning any points in Lor's scoreboard, save for in the looks category. She often forgot that she needed to guard herself when it came to strangers, or had she forgotten what happened in the past. "I don't recall giving you permission to use my first name," her voice was icy against him.

"John Harrison, I'm working under Alexander Marcus in sector 31," he explained making Lor straighten her body completely in front of him. She came up to his nose and was distraught when he seemed so superior before her; she still had to look up to catch his eyes.

"Is there something you needed from me? The days almost over and I'd like to leave my work behind me for the night," she muttered breaking eye contact with him to gather her things.

"I need your file," he said placing his hand on the desk between them.

"If you ask your superior officer I'm sure they'll give you my Starfleet background notes. It'll tell you everything you want to know about Dr. Loralie Finch," she muttered letting a dull look come over her face. She was starting to wish her receptionist had asked the man to leave.

"It wasn't there," he said curtly.

"What wasn't?" She asked knowing for a fact that her file was there because she updated her travels whenever the Enterprise returned from a mission.

Lor sighed and walked away from him towards her bag, where was Bones when she needed him, he would have turned away the man as soon as he used her first name. As if to be even more irritating the man followed her as she walked away from him, he stopped right behind her. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her neck when he spoke.

"The first available knowledge of Loralie Finch appeared fifteen years ago when you first came to Earth. There was no one with you, no father, no mother; you were an abandoned child someone had picked out of the wreckage of an ancient ship. The other humans on the ship had died in the crash and yet you were still alive, do you know why that is?" he spoke to her in a chilled tone that matched her own icy voice.

At first when he started speaking about her past Lor felt her breath hitch in her throat and she'd quickly turned around to come face to face with the man, her expression was dead and empty save for the malice in her eyes. He regarded her emotionlessly, his expression remained as it had during their whole conversation, which made Lor's anger spike, she wanted to wipe that bland look off his face.

"Because my brother shielded me from the debris, he saved my life," she spat out at him before turning fully away from the man.

"But you've never had a brother," he stated darkly. By now Lor had had enough of Mr. Harrison; the file he was speaking of was something she kept on paper so no one else was able to view it by going into the Starfleet members files.

"Andalib I'm leaving for the day," Lor called out to her receptionist loudly. John seemed to get the message when Lor started towards the back entrance, for when she turned to look at him again he was already walking away.

On the way home Lor stopped at Bones's office to see that he was grumbling at some poor nurse who'd left a patient with a needle in their arm. The nurse pushed past Lor after Bones made sure she was good and scared.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked noticing the way her eyes were set on glare mode.

"Some bozo came to my office and demanded to see my personal files, I swear he was a robot," she growled darkly. "I feel like I might go down the Bust again," she seethed. John had done more than piss her off; she was ready to rip something apart. The Bust was a sort of training gym that set robots against another species, it was a great way to let out frustration.

She'd left out the part about what John had spoken to her about and the way he'd gotten right behind her ignoring any personal space issues that their culture upheld. That was another reason why she was so angry with herself; she should have turned around and clopped him in the face, at least that's what she would have done to anyone else. But there was something about the way that he spoke to her that made her shiver and feel almost fearful of what he had to say next. Especially since he already seemed to know so much about her.

"You can't," Bones grumbled. "Don't get me wrong I love watching you wreck robots but tomorrow we're to report to the Enterprise and make sure its prepared for the new planet we're going to," he explained.

"But we have two weeks," she complained glaring at Bones.

"Don't give me that look," he said walking away from her. "Go home Lor, get some rest. Think about the new planet and what you're going to do to get me in trouble when we go there," he growled turning away from her.

"Fine," she finally agreed before turning away from him speedily.

"Don't be late," he shouted after her. Hearing her shout at him Lor turned towards him sharply before narrowing her eyes darkly.

"That only happened once," she snapped back at him before exiting the building. Bones chuckled at her remark, hoping that she would actually go home and he wouldn't have to bandage her knuckles the next morning.

The night was cold and Lor was thankful that she'd grabbed a jacket that morning, from Bones's office to her house was a good ten minute walk, not very far but far enough that someone could follow her without her knowledge. Her mind was so overrun by old memoires and thoughts of anger that she didn't notice at all until she opened the door to her building.

"Hold the door please," she heard as she was about to let it close.

Mumbling something under her breath she reached to hold it open until she saw who was behind it, the same John Harrison that had visited her desk that day. Pulling the door closed as quickly as she could she grit her teeth when he easily pushed it against her and entered the building. Lor breathed in deeply, feeling anger and fear lace through her veins and make her swallow shallowly she took a few steps away from him as he stared at her.

"Loralie," his deep voice was the same as it had been at her office.

"So you followed me home," she said trying to hide her emotions as best she could. "That's a, little strange Mr. Harrison."

"Which floor is yours?" He questioned walking past her towards the elevator.

Staring past the man with tired eyes Lor simply turned back around and headed out the door she'd just entered through, John turned to see that she was leaving and reacted quickly by grabbing onto her shoulder. His grip was tight and Lor had to wretch herself away from him in order to move at all, she tumbled out the door and down the steps with frantic steps. Taking off down the sidewalk Lor made way towards where she knew Bones would still be, but John had other plans for her.

He was far faster than she had anticipated and soon enough he was upon her. That was when they had started fighting, except that Lor was the only one throwing punches in his direction, it was apparent that he didn't want to kill her or anything of the sort.

0-0-0-0-0

At last his patience had run out and Khan reached for her neck again, this time he was too fast for her to even react and he pushed her against the wall with his hand on her throat. She snarled at him darkly and clawed at him arm uselessly. He hadn't expected her to be so wild in a fight, it was as if she had been a caged animal only recently released, but she lacked the strength to make him move.

Khan had been curious about Dr. Finch the first time he had seen her sitting in a meeting room dully, she was beautiful for being human as there were far more stunning life forms in the universe. The way her long black hair was pulled over one of her shoulders and tied at the end so as to keep it together and the stony intelligent expression in her green eyes. There was something else about her that stuck to his mind enough for him to research her and come to a dead end. There was nothing about her birth place or where she had come from in the file; her first sighting had been in the ruins of an old ship that had crashed into the Vulcan planet long ago. There were three other human bodies with her, one of them being a young boy whom she later claimed was her brother.

There was a flaw in her file that made Khan believe there was something missing from it, so he'd done some more research and come across a line of information that hinted at something viable to him.

She was defensive and cold when he started asking her questions about how she'd come to Earth, and when it came to talking about her dead brother she finally turned from him and walked away. Her cold expression said she was done talking for now, probably going to the other doctor whom she spent most of her time with.

Squeezing her neck tightly Khan moved closer to her when he saw her start to lose consciousness.

"What floor?" He asked her clearly.

"Seven," she spat out at him bitterly.

Letting her body fall to the ground Khan waited for her to regain her breath before clamping his hand down on her wrist and pulling her to her feet.

"If you try to run again I will break your legs," he hissed to her quietly. The girl merely growled at him before he pushed her body in front of his and led them back into the building and down the hall towards the elevator.

Lor coughed a few times while holding her neck gently, she was sure that John was aiming to knock her out but he'd let her go just as her vision started to turn black. Besides her fighting ego being seriously wounded Lor's mind was going crazy with thoughts of what was going to happen now that John was going to be in her home.

Placing her hand on the scanner she kept her eyes away from John the whole time, when the doors finally opened on her floor he pushed her inside so the elevator could leave and the door behind them close. Lor looked around at her messy apartment, between missions and working she rarely went home to rest or relax, her apartment was merely another place for her to put everything she had taken notes on and observed. Thus explained the maps and pictures that littered the walls and tables, Lor believed that if she were to put anything into her personal Starfleet journal someone would be able to hack into and steal her findings. So she kept everything on paper in her apartment, in no particular order since someone could still break into her apartment in search of something.

"What do you want?" Lor finally asked the man with venom in her voice. Her throat still throbbed but was starting to get better with the passing moments.

John walked away from her form into the space surrounding them, all around them there were notes and drawings of planets and solar systems, comparisons and alien species. The look on his face seemed wondrous as Lor only looked around in disgust. Now that there was someone else in her home looking at her stuff curiously she realized that everything about the space of weird. Sure people brought their work home with them but she pushed it to the limit. Perhaps the only empty rooms were the bathroom and the kitchen.

John walked further into the living room that was covered wall to wall in her research, the only thing he had to move around was the couch, and even then there were files he could have sat down and looked through on the cushions. Lor regretted not staying with Bones and helping him with whatever he was doing now, if she had stayed perhaps she wouldn't be in this predicament right now.

"I had not expected this," he muttered flipping through some of her drawings of common species to certain planets. "You're searching for it," he said turning to look at her skeptically.

His expression was different from what it had appeared to be at the office and when they were fighting, it wasn't stony and cold to hide his emotions; he looked almost pleased to be in her apartment. His eyes were accusing as he stared at her, she'd been slowly moving away from him as he wandered through her papers.

"For what?" Lor bit out while walking towards the kitchen ever so slowly. She had a few kitchen knives that she always left out of the counter so they wouldn't get lost in her mess of papers.

"Loralie," he spoke her name again. His expression reverted back a more stoic one as he moved closer to her, forcing her against the counter she let her hands roam the cold tile of the countertops until she found the handle of one of her knives.

"Don't call me that," she shouted pushing against him and whipping the knife across his form. John moved back easily, and continued to dodge any attempts Lor made at slicing through his skin; she was quick, but not fast enough.

He caught her wrist easily and forced the knife out of her grasp before pinning her against the wall to her bedroom, holding her hands down firmly with his own he looked into her wild green eyes before something else caught his attention. Lor turned her head to look past him and into her room, her eyes widened as she looked back at him to see that he was staring down at her.

Snarling at him viciously Lor pushed against his hold on her with a great amount of force, he simply responded by kneeing her in the stomach and stealing her breath and strength away from her. She slumped against the wall and fell onto the ground trying to catch her breath as he walked around her struggling form.

Walking into the room Khan looked around the room slowly, everything he had been curious about because of Loralie Finch was right in front of him. The crash, who had taken care of her, how it connected with who had found her, everything except where she had come from. There was a map of a ships planned course; it was the ship that they had found her in. There was also a faint red line of something else on the map, it continued until the end of the paper but did not show him what he was looking for.

He'd only been curious about the crash because of the ship that she had been found in; there was more to the story than was given in her profile. There was a good chance that what he was looking for was somewhere in her apartment, what with all the information lining the walls he would surely find out.

Still it was magnificent, the girl had proven worthy of his time for the next month.

"You are searching for your home," he said walking back out of the room. She stared at him bitterly, her eyes held a hint of defeat in them but otherwise she looked ready to lash out at him again. "If you tell anyone of me I will kill Dr. McCoy and James Kirk, am I understood?" He questioned watching her expression change only slightly in response to him. Her eyes darkened and she glared at him but didn't answer, but she made no complaint. "Good."

* * *

**BaB: I actually have a really good idea for where this story is going to go, and I'm pretty excited about it at the moment. I ask that you leave a review to tell me how I did and if you're interested in reading more.**

**I try to stay at least one chapter ahead of what's posted so I'm running low on steam I can still post something, just beat with me.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**BaB: Hello!**

**How is everyone today? Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to Grass for telling me of a major incident, big thanks, all the same. So here's the next chapter, again I did read through it once to edit and make sure it all made sense, if I missed something just tell me.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

The next morning Lor woke stiff from her fighting the night before, once John had threatened her and the life of her friends he bid her farewell and left her apartment. After that it had been almost impossible for her to get any sleep with so many thoughts and questions raging through her head at a million miles a second. She was sure she hated the man called John Harrison, but she couldn't imagine killing him after seeing such an intrigued expression on his face. He'd seemed genuinely interested about all the research she'd done and he was right.

She was searching for where she had come from, it was the very reason she had studied so intensely about other planets, she was trying to find something, anything that suggested where she had come from. She had some silly feeling that she would know it when she saw it, that perhaps if she found her home she would be able to see her father. Even after all the years that she hadn't seen him she could still remember his face, the smile that came to his lips when she called his name, it made her wither at the mere memory.

Throwing her covers away from her Lor decided it was best not to come home for a while, at least not with Mr. Harrison coming after her now, wanting information that she wasn't ready to share with anyone. Grabbing her Starfleet uniform she decided tonight that she'd crash with Uhura, she'd tell her friend that she wanted to discuss the new mission with her or something, or perhaps she'd bring up the topic of Spock.

An apple from her fridge was the best breakfast she'd had all week and she chomped away at it quickly while she walked towards the Starfleet Academy hangar. Bones was already there when she arrived, two minutes before she was supposed to be there she held up the time and smiled at Bones. He shook his head at her and turned to get on the small ship that would take them to the Enterprise. Immediately after he turned away from her Lor's expression faltered and she sagged considerably, the lack of sleep and questions still rolling around in her head were sucking the life from her.

She didn't even try to hide her exhaustion from Bones when she got sat down next to him, he noticed right away that she was in no mood for conversation and she would probably speak with her later. But that didn't mean a certain captain wouldn't want to ask her.

"Whoa," his voice made Bones turn to him with a sort of warning glance. Of course Jim ignored it and waited for Lor to look at him with a dead look in her eyes, her hair was tousled and messy, something Jim liked to call the morning after. "What happened to you?" He said before strapping himself down in a seat next to them.

"Do you really want to know?" She growled narrowing her eyes at him darkly.

"Save it for another time?" He mumbled with a forced chuckle.

Turning away from him to look out the window Lor ignored the two men next to her for a little while, realizing that she needed to get a handful of her research away from her apartment for a while. There was no guarantee that John wouldn't take anything, and there were certain things that she had to keep hidden from anyone and everyone. She would need to spend the night at Uhura's and then not go to work in the morning so she could go to her apartment and collect things before he got a hold of them. She still didn't know what he was looking for, but whatever it was it had to do with her past and no one belonged in her past except her.

Though she did wonder if the man had other things to do in his day or if he would simply wait until she went back to her apartment and then push his way in like he'd done last night. That would be a problem.

"Lor what's on your neck?" Jim said seeing the last traces of bruising that John had caused. She'd completely forgotten about them as it didn't hurt much anymore, she hadn't even checked the mirror to see what they'd looked like.

All at once Bones turned to her and let his fingers trail across the bruises carefully, she shivered away from his touch but he persisted and even pulled out one of his many medical devices.

"Do you just carry those everywhere?" Jim questioned with a distraught look on his face.

"Something or someone put enough pressure on your neck to make you bruise," he muttered trying to put the device on her neck as she moved away from him. Catching his hand with the device in it she glared at him darkly, she wasn't in the mood to explain where the bruises had come from. "Judging by the shape and placement of the bruises I'd say it was a hand," he murmured before giving Lor a stern look.

"Someone finally beat you up?" Jim asked with a grin on his face. Bones gave him a hard look while Lor's own expression made him turn away while mumbling about morning people.

"I told you not to go to the Bust last night," Bones reprimanded her.

"I didn't," she grumbled slapping his hand away from her neck again.

"Then what happened?" He pressed further. Lor caught herself and wanted to curse her own stupidity, she should have said that she had gone to the Bust and that the robot was extra strong. Now she had to come up with something else and what was there to say? There was no easy way to say a man had been choking her.

"I'll tell you later," she finally growled out at him defensively. By now she knew that the doctor wouldn't let it go, anything that had to do with an injury on her body was not okay by him, unless he'd hit her in the head or something. In this regard Bones was very much like a brother and it bugged the crap out of Lor, she'd been alone her whole life and still wasn't used to his nagging even after putting up with it for so long.

"Later," he agreed before putting his device away.

When they got to the med bay Bones and Lor went straight to work, Jim walked off right away saying he had more important things to take care of. Throughout the day Lor could hardly focus on her work, her mind kept going back to what John would find in her apartment, what would she say to Bones when he finally asked her what had happened? She still couldn't think of a good excuse that didn't involve her telling him about John, and who the hell was John anyway? She'd looked up John Harrison to see that he did in fact work for Marcus; everything else was just a summary of what kind of work he was doing, and nothing screamed follows you home and steals your research.

Checking the time after many long hours lost in thought Lor jumped out of her seat and ran towards the departure bay, running past Bones before he could even talk to her she made for the closest shuttle back to Earth. By now Uhura would be done with work and on her way home, Lor hoped she would still be able to catch up with her friend in time to ask her about staying over for the night.

Thankfully she got back down to Earth when it was still light out and called Uhura before just going over to her apartment and letting herself in.

"What is it Lor?" The woman asked from the other side of the line.

"Hey, I broke the elevator at my place, is it alright if I stay over at yours tonight?" She asked in a serious voice. She'd had a whole other story planned but completely blanked when she heard Uhura's voice.

"Fine, I'm on my way home right now, see you there," she murmured before hanging up.

She met Uhura at the front door and thanked her friend for allowing her to stay the night, she'd asked Lor how she'd broken the elevator and she fibbed to her a bit about experiments and whatnot.

It was only polite to ask her how her day had gone at work and so they plunged into her day of translating messages, which Lor was only somewhat interested in, and other events of importance.

"You look awful," Uhura finally stated seeing how tired her friend was.

"Thanks," Lor said slumping into her chair. She felt awful too, the lack of sleep was getting to her and though any pain in her neck had disappeared with her bruises she was still a little sore from getting beat down by John. "Is it okay if I just pass out on your couch," she muttered rubbing her throat self-consciously.

"I don't have a roommate right now so the bed in the other room if free," she explained getting up and grabbing some water. "Go get some rest," her friend murmured before walking away from her.

For a moment Lor's thoughts were centered on how it was the second time in the past twenty four hours that someone had told her to get some rest. Did she always look like she was about to fall over or something?

"Thanks," Lor whispered before wandering over to the dark room where she would be sleeping for the night. Pulling off her Starfleet uniform she let her body fall limply onto the cold covers of the bed, welcoming the feeling against her bare skin she pulled her fingers through her hair slowly. If John had gone back to her apartment in order to elicit more information from her how had he reacted when she never showed up?

She could imagine his eyebrow furrowing together angrily, and at the same time she was certain his expression would remain as stoic as it had been the night before. She still had a fleeting thought that the man resembled a robot more than he did a human; he hadn't even budged when she'd kicked him.

Sleep consumed her quickly, she felt safe in the surrounding walls of Uhura's apartment, as long as she was with someone he would stay away right?

0-0-0-0

Even in her dreams she saw John Harrison tearing down her maps and looking through her files, it was only when he was looking at a sketch that Lor realized she was in the dream as well. For she'd jumped at him and tried to release the paper from his grasp, but soon his hand found her neck and she woke gasping and holding onto it lightly. It scared her to think that everything she had researched would soon be in his hands and he might find out the secrets she'd been hiding her whole life. Sleep had been hard to succumb to after that.

The next morning Lor roused awake early, her mind a fit of unrest she couldn't leave those papers inside her apartment one moment longer. She was up and out the door even before Uhura woke and saw that she was gone, Lor was sure that if she went early in the morning John would be on his way to work just like everyone else in Starfleet. That perhaps if she stopped somewhere she normally wouldn't he would not be able to find her.

Most of the time when it came to eating breakfast Lor was really bad, she'd scarcely eat before coming in to work because she wasn't hungry in the morning or because she was caught up in research. The fact that she was actually thinking about sitting down somewhere to eat while the sun rose was almost baffling to her. Why would people spend an hour of their time sipping caffeine and eating baked goods when they could be learning about new planets or training to go into space?

Breakfast had never been her forte.

Instead of wasting her time eating she pulled out some notes from yesterday at work and began to make some comparisons and articulations. She'd called her receptionist and told her that she was staying home due to sickness and the girl had blatantly asked what disease she had contracted this time around.

One time at work she and her colleagues had been curious about a disease that was killing off the species of a planet at an alarming rate, when they injected it into that of another species nothing happened. The symptoms of the disease were shortness of breath, blue skin, and hard scabs that would appear all over the figure before the bodies of the host seemed to shrink and shrivel until they finally died. Everyone worked on a vaccine for the disease for weeks before creating one that would more or less work.

They found that the disease was attacking the weaker skin cells of the common life forms on the planet before eating away at their life source in order to thrive and stay alive, like a parasite. The vaccine would be used to strengthen their skin cells to the point where the parasite would no long be able to eat and eventually die. The vaccine worked and the doctors cheered. Lor had thought it impossible for her to contract the disease but sure enough, the next day she came in for work her skin was blue.

Bones had had a huge fit.

Smiling at the memory Lor placed her hand on the scanner in the elevator that would take her to the seventh floor, otherwise known as her mess of an apartment. She'd checked her trail the whole way there, making sure there was no man trailing behind her or even waiting in front of her while she walked slowly down the sidewalk. She thought it silly that he would follow her in broad daylight but one can never be too careful, especially when they had already been threatened. Finally when the doors opened to her apartment she looked around with a stern look on her face, slowly checking every room before breathing a deep sigh of relief.

He hadn't been waiting for her to come home; it was one of the things she had considered might happen after she spent the night at Uhura's apartment.

Pulling her bag from her shoulder Lor set it on the counter before setting to work, she'd come to the conclusion that she could stay on the Enterprise until they departed in two weeks time, thus avoiding any contact with her apartment or John Harrison. First she went to her room and took down all the maps, folding them up carefully she tucked them into her bag and gathered a few files that were lying on her dresser. She checked the contents to make sure everything was still in its respectful place before taking that to her bag as well. It took her about an hour to sift through everything she had on her background and take out anything that would give John even a bit of valuable information.

At last there was only one file left that she hid under her bed at all times, it was her most important file that was full of sketches of the faces she remembered from before the crash on Vulcan. She'd almost taken it out from under the bed when the soft sound of the elevator opening could be heard ever so softly. Lor could only imagine the look on John's face as he saw her bag still sitting on the counter, packed full of files that she'd tried to get away from him. The realization that would make him smile and search across the room for her form against the papers, he already knew that she was here.

Except for the small sound of the air conditioner the whole apartment was silent, Lor didn't even want to breathe because she was sure that he would turn the corner and see her there on the ground.

"Loralie," he finally spoke her name into the dead air. His baritone voice seemed to echo in her mind as colorful curses painted the inside of her brain like a canvas. It even sent a shiver careening across her skin, alighting goose bumps all along the way.

Still halfway under the bed Lor merely pulled herself the rest of the way beneath it hoping that the man near her door wouldn't hear the almost silent sounds of her hands pulling at the carpet. She'd pushed the file back into the farthest reaches in the very corner that had the slightest bit of shadow about it.

"It was clever of you to hide out at your friend's house for the night, but foolish to think I would not be always watching you," he said walking around calmly. Lor kept her eyes trained on the little bit of the door that she could see from her hideout, even without seeing his shoes she could hear the dull sound of them on the carpet beneath his feet. "Your receptionist, Andalib, did not hesitate to give me the address to Uhura's apartment, was the spare room to your liking?" He asked coldly.

Lor wanted to growl in response to him being anywhere near Uhura's home, if anything happened to any of her friends Lor wouldn't hesitate and throw everything she had into destroying John. Even though she had already been proven too weak to even make him stumble, the small thought of him following them home made her blood boil.

Freezing at the sight of John entering her room she ceased any kind of movement that would tell him that she was beneath the bed, though he did not need her to make any kind of signal. A creaking noise told Lor that he'd sat on the bed though he was not heavy enough to touch her with the mattress.

"What file is so important that you hid it under the bed?" His voice asked her.

"Why would I hide a file under the bed?" she murmured with a deep sigh. "That would just be," she stopped trying to find the right word. "Dumb," her voice was soft. She was already found out, he knew that she was fruitlessly under the bed as soon as he walked into the room, but that didn't mean she would just give up the file.

"Such is the way of humans," he said before standing. "Now, are you going to come out from under there, or will I have to drag you?" His question made her frown. She'd rather stay under the bed until he decided that she wasn't worth it and left all together, there was a very small chance that that would ever happen. A girl could dream right?

"Actually I-," she started to tell him that she was content to stay where she was. A hand clamped down onto her ankle before she could finish her sentence and started to pull her into the light of the room with great strength. Her first impetuous thought was to grab onto one of the bed's legs and pull herself in the opposite direction, but that would only stall him in getting what he wanted. As he yanked on her leg harder Lor's shirt began to hitch up her back and the carpet began to give her a sort of fabric burn. Another thought she'd had was to thrash about like a fish out of water until he somehow let go of her leg. Then again, he could always break her leg and that would be the end of her trying to fight against him.

Their eyes finally met when he made a final tug and she was out in the light, her hair was a mess from all the static and rubbing against the carpet, her face held an angry pout that directed nothing but hatred at John. He gave her a simple once over before looking at the ground around the bed carefully.

"The file Loralie," he said coldly holding out his hand. His face was impassive and demanding, as if he believed himself to be a kind and anything he wanted automatically belonged to him.

In response to him Lor's countenance changed considerably, her eyes clouded over and looked at him coldly. The same expression that he always seemed to have was now reflected onto her own face as she looked up at him defiantly her eyes held a more superior look. The file was already gone, there was nothing she could say or do that would make any difference now, he would have it and she would have to watch. John looked at her for a moment, they held each other's stare until he let go of her ankle and moved to the side of the bed to get the file himself.

The file made an almost silent noise that sounded like a small wave as he pulled it from beneath the bed slowly, Lor stood up almost tiredly before walking out of the room and leaving him to what she'd tried to save. She stopped in the living room in front of all her maps and pictures of the different planets she had been to and studied. One planet had been almost completely covered in water; with only two land masses the native fold had been almost similar to a child's image of a mermaid. Though their eyes were much larger and they ate fish rather than talking and making friends with them, they were also cannibals to their own race. She wouldn't publish a study about them any time soon; there was no need to crush some children's imaginations.

In a few moments John was behind her, way too close for comfort he didn't seem to care about the personal boundaries that humans upheld. He reached around her form and held the file in front of her body, trapping her with his arms he opened it carefully and showed her the contents.

Compared to all the other files in the apartment the one he was holding was the only one without text inside, all that it had inside were varies sketches that Lor had drawn herself. One of the faces was young and childish, while the others were older and more mature. Some of them were so intricate that she had even included where they had had scars on their face, while one of them was so incomplete she only had eyes, a mouth, or half of his face sketched out on any one piece of paper. There was only one woman that could be distinguished by her smaller features and face; she was the only sketch that smiled.

"Who are these people?" His voice next to her ear made her shiver ever so slightly. Lor gulped unevenly, not wanting to tell him the truth she mustered up her small amount of courage and fibbed.

"My old family, they died on a trip to their home planet," she explained trying to get away from his body.

"You are a very good liar Loralie," he muttered in her ear. "But not good enough," he made her shiver again with his words. "Who are they?" He asked her in a more demanding voice than before. Again she tried to get away from him but his arms around her form refused to loosen even the tiniest bit, as if she was a small finch inside a cage not even big enough for flight. "Do you need to be threatened again?" He questioned making her remember what he'd promised to do to her friends.

"They made me get on their ship," she spoke in a clear voice despite the tremble of her heart. "The woman's smile was so welcoming and caring, I did not know any better," her voice was softer now.

"Who is she?" He whispered into her ear.

"Her name was Orda, she died in the crash, just like everyone else," her voice was suddenly cold at the memory of what had happened.

The sound of alarms had been going off, as if something had gone terribly wrong on another part of the ship Orda and Kra were pulling at her hands forcefully. Kra was Orda's son, he was about the same age as Lor but she didn't like his so much, he was always such a baby. Talking to her quickly they dragged her with them towards one of the escape pods located towards the back of the ship. She'd asked what was wrong but they didn't answer her, Kra had started crying and his mother was yelling at him to stop that he needed to be brave right now. Lor pulled against them when she remembered who was still on the ship but they were far stronger and she did not get the change to look back. When they made it to the escape pod Orda had kneeled down next to Lor and held her shoulders gently, that was when she had smiled and said that everything was going to be okay. Lor had smiled back before the shuttle began to roar to life. That was when someone shouted her name painfully and Lor turned around sharply.

"Loralie," it was John's voice that brought her back.

She took a deep breath when she realized that John was now in front of her, his cold eyes tore into her frame quizzically. He was holding up the picture of drawing of Kra whom Lor had once hated for always crying when he was younger. She'd been so caught up in her memory that John had managed to move without her even noticing at all.

"That's Orda's son, he was a crybaby," she explained with a soft smile.

"The one you call your brother?" His question caught her off guard.

"Yes," she grit her teeth in response. If he already knew everything then why did he need her at all?

He continued with his questions and insights, asking Lor who each sketch was, there was the pilot who'd flown the escape pod away, she didn't know his name. Another man whom Lor had always seen talking to Orda, his name was Ivan, she remember how the word Ivan had made a deep v sound when she was little. She'd liked his name just because of the sound it'd made coming out of her mouth.

"Who is the last man?" He asked holding up all the pieces of a face that she had drawn. Lor thought that this conversation was very much like how an interrogation would have been; perhaps if they ever found out what she was researching she would be in a real one.

There was a reason why Lor had never been able to draw the man's whole face, whenever she sat down and convinced herself that she was going to finish the drawing she was brought back to the very last moment she saw him.

With Orda smiling in front of her Lor almost didn't hear someone shout her name, but immediately she recognized the voice and turned towards the figure running down the hall towards her. In that moment when Lor had tried to go to him Orda seized her up into her arms and restricted her movement, making the girl squirm and yell. Lor remembered screaming for him as he ran full speed down the hallway towards her small outstretched arms. _Loralie!_ He'd shouted her name again, this time he'd sounded so desperate it had made Lor start crying.

All at once something had attacked the man and held him back, other people from Orda's crew tried to restrain the man, his face was full of agony as he held Lor's eyes while she cried out to him.

"_Don't take her! Don't take my Loralie!" _He'd shouted throwing off the men like they were made of paper, but he was already too late, the doors to the escape pod were closing.

"_Papa!"_ Lor had screamed his name right before the doors closed and they shot off into space.

The memory brought a tear to Lor's eye as she was brought back to looking at John's face while he stared at her intensely; it was as if he was trying to read the flashback off her face. Taking a deep breath Lor turned away from him and tried to control her breathing before she lost herself to the very event that haunted her dreams.

"He's my father," she said coldly.

* * *

**BaB: And thus the plot thickens, I do realize that its only chapter two, I feel as though I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but I'm just a tad bit excited...**

**What did you think?**

** I heard the name Loralie at work, some little girl was running around and her mom was shouting at her, kind of annoying. But I had to use the name, its so pretty.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**BaB: Hey peoples, guess what I did today? Burnt my fingers on hot oil...Yeah, I'm special. Anyway, thanks for the review funnybunny, and for all the people that joined the follower possy. I actually wrote three thousand words of another chapter but decided it was stupid and wrote the whole thing over, so be happy.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

After such a confession Lor was very pissed, why she even gave information to him in the first place was beyond her. This man deserved nothing, after he'd threatened her and her friends and came into her apartment without her consent and asked for information that was not his to know. Lor was done with him right now. She hated herself for being so weak, even if the man was much stronger than her that was no excuse to giving away any information about herself.

With all that hatred swarming around her form Lor tore out of the living room and into her own room, John followed behind her slowly, wondering what she could be doing. After such a confession as that he thought she would have let any other information she had fall out of her mouth like a flood, but he was wrong.

Tearing off her common clothes Lor pulled a sports bra and a pair of sweat pants on before going into the bathroom and pulling her hair into a high ponytail. Smiling faintly when she realized that whenever she had this hairstyle it was like she was stealing Uhura's look. Next she wrapped her knuckles in a few gracious layers of gauze and athletic tape before testing it against the wall, Bones had asked her not to go to the Bust. But that was the day before, and he hadn't said anything about today, so that's where she was going to go in order to let off some steam.

"I have more questions," John finally spoke. He blocked her path as she exited the bathroom and gave her his ever emotionless expression; one that made her glare at him all the more, this man was the source of her anger.

"I have an answer," Lor said with a bit of a sneer on her face. "Piss off," she said moving around him quickly. He grabbed at her arm and stared her down with his icy eyes, but she was done with anything this man wanted with her, no more for her today. She wretched her arm from his grip and was a little surprised when he let her go.

Putting on a coat over her fighting attire she looked back at John before taking a hold of her bag of file and throwing it at him with a growl.

"If you have these, you don't need me," with that said she got into the elevator and stared at him dully until the doors closed.

0-0-0-0-0

The bust looked the same as it always did, dim lights, a few piles of dead or busted robots, sometimes they still had a bit of blood on them from whomever had done them in. Lor was sure some of her blood was on one of them in the pile, against Bones's best wishes she came to the Bust quite frequently. It was the poor circulation of air, the shallow swooping ceilings, nor the dull sound of flesh hitting metal that attracted her to such a place. It was the simple fact that she got to beat the crap out of something when she was angry that kept her coming back, on the plus side it also helped to improve her fighting.

Daki, the one who ran all the fights, was always the first one to spot Lor when she came in. He smiled at her showing his loss of teeth and motioned for her to come closer to his form.

"Haven't seen you in a little while, how've you been?" He asked with knowing expression.

"Been okay, the doctor didn't want me to come here but, I'm really angry right now," her frown broke through her lousy attempt at a smile. Daki nodded at her knowingly, Lor had once taken him to this doctor of hers when a robot blew up right in front of his face, he knew that Bones was strict. "Who's fighting right now?" She asked, the dull sound of punching was evident in the air.

"Some new kid named Oliver, a real shrimp of a fellow, can't make it past level two," Daki laughed through the holes in his teeth with a grin on his face.

"Anyone else?" Lor asked a bit curious. Sometimes there were up to ten fighters at a time watching a fight or waiting to be in one, they'd often shout advice from the sidelines or just laugh at you.

"Not today, it's always kind of slow during the week," he muttered walking towards the fighting area. "Though Felix is here, fixing robots like he's paid to," he added remembering who else was in the building.

"He's actually working today?" Lor asked with a bit of shock on her face. Usually Felix could be found sleeping in the back surrounded by a few half fixed robots, how he could sleep on all those pieces of metal was always a mystery. But he was notorious for never doing his work and being found by Daki halfway through the night, all the regulars knew by now that they should leave Felix asleep so they could watch the show.

"That's what I pay him to do," Daki said in a loud voice.

"Good man," Lor laughed. Daki grinned at her before walking away and leaving her in front of the fighting arena to stare at the new kid named Oliver.

Lor watched him for a few minutes before coming to a conclusion, to put it lightly, he sucked. When the robot ducked and dodged he tried to land a bunch on his guarded face, when the robot was open for the punching Oliver tried to kick him. When all else failed he went after the metal beast in a flurry of punches and hits that did nothing but tire the kid out, Lor had to fight of a smirk before she spoke to him.

"Don't fight in desperation," Lor called out to him from behind the battle line. The comment made the kid turn quickly in her direction and stare at her for a few moments; he didn't even notice the fist coming towards his face. "Duck," Lor shouted quickly. Oliver at least had the sense to listen to her and ducked out of the way just in time. He looked back at her for a second with a small nod of thanks. "Block mid," she began to instruct the kid dully. "Block, duck and weave, push back, crush his jaw," Lor's eyes followed the fight as if it was happening in slow motion. This is what she did in her free time; of course she was good at it.

"Alright Shrimp, your times up, exit the area," Daki's voice come on over the speakers. The Shrimp's eyes widened and he looked up to where Daki was speaking onto the microphone and controlling the robots wirelessly.

"Just one more round, I think I have something now," he shouted loudly through the empty space of the building.

"Sorry tiny, but there's someone waiting in line, and you have to take turns," Daki said with a hint of humor in his voice. Lor could just see the grin on his face as he came up with new nicknames for the little guy.

Pulling off her coat Lor breathed in deeply at the feeling of cold air on her stomach and arms', making sure her pony tail was tight and her wrapped knuckles were fine she hopped over the railing blocking the battle area and walked over to Oliver. He actually wasn't too small now that she was next to him, still fresh, perhaps a teenager, with no muscle on his arms but a determined look in his eyes. He was about the same height as Lor, and he gave her a bit of a sneer as he looked down at her wrapped knuckles.

"Can you actually fight?" He asked with a frown on his face. Lor felt the need to beat him down right then and there and gave Daki an irritated look with the turn of her head.

"Don't kill him Lor, he's still new to this," his voice came on loudly. Lor growled deeply in her throat, something she hated, this was something she'd always hated, just because she was a woman she couldn't fight, right? Did he not land a punch with her instruction, and he would still think that she couldn't fight herself?

"Go wait on the sidelines Shrimp," she said with cold eyes. He frowned at her as well before trudging away from her.

"Starting at level one," Daki's voice chimed in cheerfully.

Level one featured a wimpy looking robot with weak plating and a slow paced fighting style that one could take out in a few seconds if they knew what they were doing. It had taken Oliver about ten minutes to figure out the pattern of the bot and where to hit it to take it out completely, and then he had to hit it with enough force which took a few tries. Due to the robots weak plating and armor the neck was the most exposed and obviously the weak point, he found this out after looking at broken versions of the bot in the many piles of dead machinery. Oliver was lucky that there had been no one else to laugh at him earlier.

The bell rang just as the robot threw the first punch at Lor, but she was already prepared for what it was doing and dodged quickly out of the way before kicking out its legs with great force. It was a move that she'd tried on John but he was a trained fighter prepared for anything that she could muster, or so she inquired. So it had done nothing against him, but the robot went down without a hitch and Lor twisted her body around so that she was already above it when it tried to get back up. A quick jab to the throat followed by a powerful swipe almost completely disconnected the head of the poor hunk of junk from the body.

Shaking out the strain in her fist Lor looked over at Oliver to see that he was more or less gaping at her, another robot came to pick up the level one and take it off the fighting area before another bot came out.

"How long did it take you?" She asked him while readjusting the tape on her knuckles. He looked away from her bitterly with a defeated look on his face that made her smirk at him. "Don't worry, everyone has to start somewhere," she said to him with a laugh before taking her position.

"Level two," Daki yawned into the microphone.

Level two was a bit bigger than the first one, but not by much, he was faster and threw stronger punches than level one did, with a bit more plating, especially on its neck. The only weak point being its ribs which were usually guarded by his arms, the robot was smarter and knew faintly that it should cover the area with the least armor. Oliver had deducted that the reason he covered his ribs so much was because it was weak there, this time it'd taken him about an hour and he still hadn't defeated it.

Holding her fists up to her face Lor got ready to change her fighting style slightly to accommodate the level two robot who was better at boxing and often took out men who boasted about their arm strength. Oliver watched carefully as she leaned forward ever so slightly before putting more than half of her weight on one foot her stance changed considerably. Right when the bell dinged the robot and Lor shot into action, it punched right for her chest so she had to almost touch the ground with her face before springing back up with her fist at its chin. Level two lurched backwards to get away from her swing before she dodged around its form and twisted her heavy leg until it crashed into its back and set it off balance. At this point the robot had to steady itself with its arm and therefore left its side open for the beating, which Lor did quickly, pounding home with her clenched fists she bit her lip when she felt skin break.

The robot retaliated and got Lor in the cheek while she was distracted with its ribs; she took the shallow hit and backed off quickly. Rubbing her jaw with her bloody knuckles she got a bit of her own blood on her chin before she spat a little bit out blood from her mouth. The punch had caused her to bite down on her lip a little bit too hard.

The match ended with Lor kicking the bot in the ribs while it was down and soon it was time for level three, Oliver watched everything with an air of wonder and respect.

The rest of the day towards night time consisted of Lor busting her way through level three, four, and five, before Daki stopped her at level six. She had never been able to get past level six and move on to level seven; there were few people if anyone who made it to level seven at all. Level six was a quick bastard with fast punches and light metal plating that was hard to get through even for a swift knuckle, the robots only weak spots were the back of his knees. But it was always so tricky to even get behind the blasted thing long enough to hit the tender wires, it always seemed one step ahead of anyone who got behind it.

Spitting blood on the floor at the feet of the robot Lor growled darkly as it walked out of the area as Daki pushed back at her gently. She'd taken a few hits to the stomach and ripped open her knuckles enough for them to bleed down her arms and drip onto the ground every once in a while, her lip was split open and her legs trembled slightly. Daki led her over to a comfortable chair that was always the last resting place of any of the fighters before they went off to whatever doctor they usually saw who would bandage their wounds.

"Fuck," Lor cursed angrily. It was rare for her to curse when she was with her friends and coworkers but when it came to the Bust and she was around her fist to metal allies she let go of her polite chatter. "Goddamn level six," she breathed shakily as Daki wrapped a temporary bandage around her red knuckles.

"You're not fast enough yet Lor, it always gets you before you can hit its knees, and your right arm looked weaker today," Daki muttered listing off all the things that she had done wrong in her last fight. Despite looking like a bum and owning an old bot fighting dump like the Bust Daki actually knew quite a bit about his line of work.

"Shit," she murmured inspecting her injured hands. "Bones is going to kill me for this," she mused licking her lip before regretting it. "I'll see you later Daki," Lor waved him off before getting up and throwing on her jacket. Looking back into the building one last time before leaving Lor almost laughed when she saw that Oliver was already back at it.

0-0-0-0

"Bones why are you always here?" Lor asked walking into the medicine bay of Starfleet headquarters. It wasn't too terribly late when Lor got out of the Bust, she figured Bones might still be working on whatever it was he spent all his time on, and she was right.

"Because there's always- ah, what did I tell you?" Bones started to answer her before he turned and saw her split lip and was immediately angry at her. "I told you not to go to the Bust Lor," he growled getting up from his desk quickly.

"But you told me that two days ago," she said as a matter of fact. Bones did not look very amused by her answer and was not gentle when he forced her to sit down so he could look at her wounds.

"God woman," he growled taking her hands to look at her knuckles. He started to unwrap her hands slowly, grumbling about how unthankful she was that he was always there to stitch up her wounds for her.

Lor only faintly listened to his mumbled comments; her mind was elsewhere as he pulled the last bit of the bandage from her bloody knuckles, though it had stuck painfully into her wound Lor made no face of pain. Out of all the people on Earth Bones was the only one who knew about her father, she'd told him everything one night when she'd gotten drunk. He hadn't judged her for what she said, nor gave an sort of criticism for what she'd chosen to do as a result of it, and that was why she loved Bones like she would love a brother.

"Do you think I'm foolish?" She questioned catching his eyes quickly. Bones sighed softly, he'd noticed the way her voice changed when she asked him, and it meant that she was talking about something else.

"What happened Lor?" He asked as he began to spray something on her wounds.

"I can't tell you," she murmured frowning bitterly.

"Bullshit," he snarled and startled her. She was suddenly angry again, this time at Bones who knew nothing of the death threat that John had given her if she told anyone about what had happened at her apartment. He didn't know that she'd already given the man her research despite the fact that she wanted to beat his face in she'd kept her mouth shut to save her friends.

"I can't," she said again with more force in her voice.

"Is this about your dad?" Bones asked recognizing the tone of her voice when she spoke about her father. Lor didn't answer but simply nodded at him, her eyes darkened and clouded over when she thought of how John had asked her about the drawings she'd tried to keep hidden.

"Someone took my research," she growled remembering how she'd just thrown the files at John in spite. He was going to take them anyway, whether she fought against him or simply handed him the files he would have gotten them.

"Why would someone want paper?" Bones wondered aloud with a grin on his face. He was trying to cheer her up but the topic was a bit too serious for her to joke about right now.

"Bones," she pushed his shoulder gently. He'd finished bandaging her hands and was now cleaning some blood off her face when he found a bruise forming from where the level two had gotten her cheek. "I'm being serious here, someone took all my research about my past," she said with a bit of hurt in her voice. It was actually so far from the truth that it hurt her heart to lie to her friend, but it was all she could say that wouldn't have John breathing down her neck.

"Did you find anything that could tell someone where the ship came from," he asked wisely. Lor shook her head in answer to him, she'd hit a dead end on that lead a long time ago. "Did you finish the sketch of your father yet?" Again she shook her head and Bones continued with his questions slowly. "You really don't know anything about where you came from do you?" He joked making Lor give him a silly frown.

"I know plenty of things about where I came from, I just didn't write them down, and even if I did write them down they wouldn't leave my mind alone," she said letting her emotions control her voice. Bones looked at her glumly before she realized what she said and slouched into the chair defeated, she finally understood.

The reason why John needed her and not her research was because she had so much more to offer when it came to her past and what she remembered the day of the crash. It didn't matter how many files he read, even if he took all the research in her apartment he wouldn't know the answer to his question. Because she was the only one who could answer it, the only thing Lor wanted to know was what it was, he'd yet to answer her question of why he wanted to know where she came from in the first place.

"So why should it matter if someone took your files, the information is worthless if you're not there to talk about it," Bones mumbled rubbing something cold on her cheek. Lor looked down at Bones with a fond expression, something that a sister might give their brother after they cheered them up. "What?" He asked giving her a strange look to counter her own.

"I wish you were my brother," she fake cried going to hug him but cringing when she moved her abdomen.

"There too?" He questioned bitterly. "Take off your jacket," he commanded of her when she looked away from him like a child caught lying. Slowly taking it off, careful on her new knuckle bandages, she looked down to see that her pale skin was starting to turn a light shade of purple.

"Are you going to be here the whole night?" Lor asked as his cold fingertips lightly touched her bruising skin.

"Why? Too scared to go back to your apartment?" He mused before looking at her countenance to see that there was no smile on her face. "I guess we can stay the night and claim it's for medical research," he sighed watching a smile break out onto her face.

"I'm going to go steal a lab coat," Lor muttered before rising and disappearing down a hallway. It was very apparent that Lor spent far too much time at Bones's job than she did at her own office building; she knew where things were better than the nurses most of the time.

"No breaks this time," Bones shouted after her. The last time she came from the Bust to him she'd had two broken ribs and a light concussion that he'd tried to yell at her for but she passed out instead. Though it had been troublesome to learn that someone had taken her research about her dad there were worse things that could happen. In the end he was just happy that they had only taken her research and not her life, it could have ended so much worse than just a few files of missing paper.

"Do I look like a doctor?" Lor asked walking back into the room with a lab coat now upon her. She'd taken off her sweat pants to reveal her long legs, which were also full of purpling skin from kicking hunks of metal in the Bust, he glared at her softly before sighing and turning away from her.

"You are a doctor," he grumbled shaking his head.

"Yeah, but my job's boring compared to yours, find a vaccine for this disease, you get to see blood," she muttered letting her eyes bug out when she said blood. Bones simply turned around and stared at her with an odd sort of expression on his face, he finally just shook his head and looked back at the technology pad in his hands.

"You're not missing anything, trust me," he assured her before standing and walking away from her. Regardless of whether or not Lor was going to be his buddy for the rest of the night he still had work to do, and some random woman, even if it was his friend, wasn't going to stop him.

"Bones," her voice stopped him before he could get very far.

"What?" He asked turning to her gruffly. She was leaning against one of the medical beds with her legs crossed and her head bowed down slightly, staring up at him through clouded eyes.

"Thanks," she smiled up at him with a grateful expression on her face.

"Don't mention it," he answered just as gruffly as he always did. "Don't cause me any trouble okay?" He gave her a stern look before going back on his way. Lor smiled at his retreating form, fiddling with the bottom of the lab coat before grabbing a few blankets from one of the cabinets, setting up the best bed she could muster, and snuggling into the itchy fabric that was medical fabric. She had gotten used to it by now and it was the next best thing to her own bed.

0-0-0-0

For the next few days Lor kept to the down low, helping Bones with menial tasks like training new nurses and identifying weird diseases that they had no immediate record of. She was starting to get bored, not that her regular work, back with her dumb receptionist Andalib, was any better, but Lor just felt a building sensation of exhaustion pooling within. She was counting down the days until they left for their next mission, then she would be able to relax knowing that John could not follow her into space.

"Dr. Finch?" A voice called for Lor's attention. Looking over at a stranger in a Starfleet uniform Lor nodded in his direction and gave him a quick friendly smile. He looked more like a student than anything, a hesitant smile grew across his face as he gave her a curt nod.

"Yes?" She finally spoke when he still stared at her.

"Professor Growe is giving a lesson on the planet Pnoert and its organ eating disease," he said nervously. "She thought it would be beneficial for an expert to talk about it, and since you're close by," he stopped when Lor sighed and got to her feet.

"I hear ya," she muttered before straightening her clothes and glancing back to Bones. "I'll be back in a little bit Bones," she said loud enough for him to hear her.

"Just stay gone," he shouted back at her. Lor grumbled darkly at him but followed the other kid all the same as he led the way into Starfleet Academy, she couldn't help but reminisce as she remembered walking through the halls with Bones and Jim.

The kid walked into the classroom first and left Lor standing outside like an unwanted outcast, she'd always hated walking into a classroom already full of people. But by golly she was an adult now, no longer a student at the academy, Lor walked into the room and stood next to who she assumed to be Professor Growe.

"Ah, Dr. Finch, thank you for agreeing to come in on such short notice," the teacher gave her a grateful look that Lor answered with a kind smile of her own. "Class this is who we talked about last time, Dr. Loralie Finch," Lor turned towards the rest of the students. Skipping over faces until she saw the same kid that had gotten her from Bones's office, her eyes even got caught on another familiar face. Locking eyes with a very stunned looking Oliver Lor simply smiled at him with a small nod before looking back at Prof. Growe.

"Good morning, afternoon," Lor greeted them quizzically. "What time is it?" She wondered aloud looking at her clock. "Morning, had it right the first time," she grinned at them sleepily. "You'll have to excuse my behavior, I've been a little scatterbrained as of late," she explained to the Professor who only smiled kindly at her.

"I understand you're going on a new mission in about a week, I'm just elated that you came at all. Will please talk about your experiences on planet Pnoert with the organ eating disease," it was more of a demand than a request. Lor immediately recognized that the lady was not someone that would take jokes or laugh around at her antics, so Lor turned on her serious mode.

After the class ended Lor stared down Oliver until he eventually came up to her with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Didn't know you were going to the Academy," she mused walking away from Ms. Uptight professor. Oliver followed her until she stopped with a smirk on her face.

"Please don't turn me in," he said getting closer to her so his voice could be concealed.

"Why would I do that?" She questioned with a disappointed look on her face. "Do I look like that type of person?" She pushed frowning at him deeply.

"I didn't think you would be Dr. Finch," he muttered turning away from her. "Anyway I have another class to go to," he went to leave her. It was strange to see someone whom he never thought he would see apart from his visits to the Bust, he didn't know what to say now that he was caught.

"Have you gotten past level two yet?" She asked softly.

"Almost," he said with a smile on his face. "Daki says my wings are getting faster, are you going to come by tonight?" Oliver asked curiously.

"Probably not," Lor murmured with a small frown. "My friend is strongly against me going there all the time, since he's the one that always has to bandage me up," she explained holding up her almost healed knuckles.

"Lame," Oliver shook his head at her. "Some dude made it to level seven, he's been coming the past couple nights but he doesn't talk much. He's fun to watch though, no mercy," Oliver laughed walking away from Lor quickly.

Looking after Oliver with a gaping mouth Lor made up her mind right away that she was going to go to the Bust tonight. Not to fight or anything, Bones would kick her out of his office for sure if she came back with bloody knuckles again, she was just curious. Who was it that made it to level seven when she could barely make it through level five without taking some good hits and damage?

A superman of some sort for sure.

* * *

**BaB: A little more about who Lor is and her brotherly relationship with Bones, holy crap my burnt finger stings right now...  
**

**What did you think? Tell me, tell me, tell me...Please?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**BaB: Hey peoples. A big thanks to those who reviewed, Barker, Vivie, Tex, Dreamer, and kieli. Getting feedback always makes me smile and want to write more, yes, yes it does. That it why I wrote you all this chapter despite my burnt finger being almost incapable of bending without pain.**

**Again I apologize, as I always do, if there is anything I goofed up on, I did read through it to make sure there wasn't anything too horrendous, but I do miss things from time to time.**

**So enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

When Lor had gotten back to Bones's office she explained that someone from the Academy wanted to talk to her a bit more about her studies and asked her to grab dinner with them, she would be back somewhere around ten or eleven. Bones grinned at her and asked if it was a man only to frown deeply when Lor snarled at him and said it was a girl, he always thought she was going out with some random man whenever she said someone was interested in her work. Besides if she was going to meet up with a man for dinner she would definitely dress a lot nicer than what she was currently wearing.

Regardless of the most convincing lie Bones waved her off and said that he would most likely still be here by the time she got back, and if he wasn't he would be in his apartment. She could always bust in and crash like she had been doing for the past few nights. Did she feel bad about lying to Bones? Yes and no, yes because he despised the Bust and anything that had to do with her going there. But No because she was far too curious about Mr. Level Seven dude to even think about skipping out on watching him fight.

That's how she came about to walking down the street quickly towards the Bust at seven thirty in the evening. Since it was now Friday night and officially a weekend Lor was not surprised to see a good handful of people standing around and chatting or breathing heavily in some chairs. Again there was the familiar sound of fist hitting metal that all the regulars in the Bust had grown to love, even if it meant someone was splitting their knuckles open.

Lor easily picked out Daki as he spoke to a small group of men whom she only assumed were about ready to get in their fight or looking for a few pointers. Wandering around for a bit Lor spotted Oliver leaning against the wall and talking to someone before she moseyed on over to him with a grin on her face. With the way his appearance was, split knuckles, sweat soaked shirt, and the way he leaned against the wall, it was only obvious that he had already done his rounds.

"So how was level two?" She asked popping up next to the kid. The other man who was talking to him nodded at Lor and she recognized him faintly, there were many people that came to the Bust but not so many that she couldn't remember their faces.

"Beat it," he said with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Wow," Lor said with a bit of a gasp. She hadn't been expecting any sort of improvement from him for a while, and yet here he was, growing up all by himself. "Good job," she smiled at him warmly.

"He beat level two, and then the first punch in level three took him right out," the man next to him said with a laugh. This made Oliver frown and mutter some things under his breath at the man as he continued to chuckle. Lor suppressed a grin and gave the man a look before Oliver growled again.

"So what, I still got past level two," he snapped.

"No, I wasn't even expecting you to make it past level two," Lor muttered giving him a coy look. "But you made it," she patted him on the back gently as if he were made of glass.

"Thanks for having so much faith in me," he murmured sarcastically. At this point Lor finally did laugh and smile cheerfully at him. "It's great you know, having teachers that believe in you," His voice was monotone as he gave her a blank stare.

"Anytime shrimp," she nodded towards him gleefully.

"I'm taller than you are," he stated matter of fact. He looked very proud of that fact and made a point to puff up with pride at this, making sure that he was taller than her.

"And weaker," she giggled. Oliver was about to say something when he saw Daki approaching them and left his reply as a mere frown that nudged its way across his face.

"Giving our young one a hard time, huh?" Daki asked before grinning at Oliver with his toothless mug. Every time the man came over and spoke Lor was reminded of why he liked the older man so much, he was almost like a father figure to everyone at the gym.

"I'm signing up after the next person," the man next o Oliver said before walking away slowly.

"Don't let Level four get the best of you this time," Daki called after him. He then looked back at Lor and inspected her hands to see that they had already more or less healed and that her lip was no longer split open and nasty looking. She'd always been a fast healer. "Not fighting tonight?" He asked seeing that her knuckles were not wrapped as they usually were when she came in.

"Can't, doctor will kill me if I come home all beaten up again," she muttered frowning at the thought of Bones freaking out again.

"So you came to see Mr. Level Seven then?" He questioned with a smirk on his face. Lor looked away of him slightly ashamed, she'd never come to the Bust before just to watch someone fight, it was always to release anger and stress. "It's alright, a lot of people are coming to watch him fight," he laughed pointing out a few people from the small crowd around them.

"He's really good," Oliver said while massaging his knuckles.

"I'm even having Felix design a level eight tonight for when he beats level seven," Daki said motioning towards where his repair man could always be found sleeping. "And no, he's not sleeping right now I made sure of it," he growled when Lor smiled suggestively at him.

"Are you positive?" Lor murmured. Oliver glanced at the both of them confused; he was still new and didn't know that Felix almost never did his job. "He sleeps on the job all the time," Lor whispered to him as if it was a secret.

"Why don't you go check up on him," Daki finally said with a frown. "Sometimes he falls asleep so fast I don't even have time to yell at him," he grumbled recalling past events where his lazy engineer had passed out.

"Okay, I'm going, I'm going," Lor said before turning towards Felix's domain.

"I'll call you when Level Seven gets here," Daki yelled after her form.

Throwing her hand up to show that she'd heard him Lor continued to walk towards the heaps of broken robots that was where Felix spent his days being lazy and barely working. Lor didn't know the man too well, she knew his name, that he liked to sleep, and that he always seemed really talkative whenever she came over to say hello. Most of the time when he rambled on she would just ignore him, but sometimes it was funny to hear him talk about what Daki said to him.

"Felix?" Lor called out into the many piles of cords metal plating and wires about her.

The only system Felix ever had going was to organize broken parts, different types of metal, and matching certain pieces with certain pieces. Otherwise the whole area was just a mess of things that he sometimes got around to fixing.

"You're probably sleeping somewhere, if not just shout or something," she called out through the space. "I don't want to trip over you," she muttered looking down as she walked over various parts.

"Lor?" A voice came from a few piles away from her. She was slightly impressed that he could recognize her from her voice.

"Yeah," she said while walking closer to where his voice had been.

"I'm not sleeping today," he said making her frown at his dumb comment. Of course he wasn't sleeping right now, how else would he be speaking to her? Of course there was always sleep talking, but most of the time it was random words or gargled speech and he had answered in words that mostly made sense.

Rounding the corner of a pile Lor stopped short when her eyes landed on what Felix was working on. She'd half stopped moving because he was actually working and also because of the size of the thing he was constructing.

"Woah," she murmured looking up at its cold metallic face.

The robot was about seven feet tall and built more or less like a tank of sorts, with hard metal plating all over its body and massive hands Lor couldn't even begin to imagine how to defeat it. She barely come up to its chest and felt that if she ducked low enough she would be able to slide through the whole in its legs.

"This is level eight," Felix explained with a grin.

"It almost looks like you skipped to level nine," she commented before running her fingers along the hard metal of its arm. "I can't believe you're actually working on it," she fake gasped when he grinned at her.

"I was kind of excited that Daki asked me to make another level," he said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "The only reason I don't work so much is because I hate repairing robots, it's so boring," he frowned miserable at the mere thought. "But this is so much fun," he smiled again.

"Well I'm happy for you then," she smiled kindly at him. He really looked like he was enjoying himself and there was no reason for Lor to say anything negative about it, especially when it was so hard to get him to do anything in the first place.

"Thanks," he muttered looking away from her nervously.

"What's it built for?" She asked suddenly curious what Mr. Level Seven would have to deal with.

"Mostly for armor, thought there is a bit of speed in him, I'm calling him Frank right now," he muttered looking over his plating.

"Frank?" Lor wondered with a laugh.

"Frank the tank," Felix elaborated for her simply. Lor smiled fondly at the name and walked around to the back of the robot. "If he catches his opponent they're pretty much done for, and though he's not as fast as Level Six or Seven he has more stamina," Felix muttered looking at something some sheets.

"What's his weak point?" She asked.

"Hey now," Felix said holding up his hands. "Why would I tell you that?" He smiled and put his finger to his lips. "It's a secret, even Daki doesn't get to know," he said with a grin on his face.

"Oh come on, I'll never make it to Level Eight anyway," Lor bugged him.

Felix kept his big grin on his face and merely shook his head, Lor had a feeling that he wouldn't budge on the issue, because what was to stop her from telling anyone else what it was?

"Well, do you need any help?" She finally gave up and asked. Just as Felix was about to say something Oliver popped up from over one of the piles, he seemed to be looking for Lor but was a little caught up in everything else. The kid had yet to wander upon a sleeping Felix surrounded by lots and lots of dead robot pieces, so the trash heap where Felix worked was still a bit of a mystery for him.

"Who's that kid?" Felix asked catching sight of him.

"New fighter, Oliver," Lor said with a cringe as the shrimp caused something to fall. He'd barely touched an arm that Felix had yet to dissemble and it caused a great deal of other things to abandon their post at the top of the pile and come crashing down.

"Don't like him," Felix grumbled before turning back towards his work. "Help me when you're done?" He mumbled without looking back at her.

"Of course," she replied before going over to Oliver. "Stop knocking things down," she said looking at the mess he was trying to clean up.

"It looks like a mess anyway," Oliver defended himself.

"It's an organized mess," came Felix's voice from behind them. Lor glanced behind to see that Felix now had a frown etched into his face which made Lor chuckle lightly; he really didn't like the kid too much.

"Level Seven dude is next," Oliver explained with an excited glint in his eyes.

"Well, let's go wait on the sidelines then," Lor said just as excited. There were a few people that came to the Bust who could really dish out some good blows and make it up to level six like she could. Usually that was where they stopped because they were already so worn out they weren't fast enough to keep up. Lor had already seen them fight plenty of times, at that point everyone who got up to that level had watched the other people that got there and knew their fighting styles, because they'd tried them out in their own fights.

Lor had yet to see who Level Seven was, so she had no idea what his fighting style was like, tough Oliver had said that he showed no mercy, but what did that mean? These were robots that he was fighting anyway, perhaps it meant his punches and kicks were anything but weak, that he could get through the first few levels like it was nothing. She would have to watch and find out, and perhaps imagine what such a man might look like. Really tall definitely, a strong build that screamed power, a bit of a demeaning gaze, and perhaps a handsome face.

Sitting down on the sidelines Lor nodding her head in greeting to a few familiar faces before turning her attention to whoever was currently fighting a level three. It was an older man that joined a few months ago, his name was Leo but everyone called him Sprints for the way in which he fought. Every once in a while during a fight he would suddenly burst into a quick pace of punches before his vigor died down and he was slow again. Because of this way of fighting it was hard for him to make it past level three sometimes.

"Watch your balance Sprints!" Lor yelled noticing he was putting far too much weight on one leg.

"You know him?" Oliver asked looking at her quizzically. She looked at him for a little while before frowning and sticking her tongue out at him.

"Everyone does, you're the only one that doesn't," she muttered playfully. Oliver gave her a silly exasperated look before turning away from her and back towards the fight.

Finally when the bell rang and Sprints walked off towards the chair of resting Oliver perked up when another figure started walking into the fighting area. He tapped Lor on the leg when she looked away from the area in boredom, Sprints was only entertaining for so long.

"What?" She grumbled turning to look. Seeing that Sprints was now gone she perked up and locked her eyes on the new figure entering the battle zone.

In her excitement she didn't take time to recognize who the person might be, the way he walked and his stance, Lor already knew who it was she just didn't know it yet. She almost congratulated herself at guessing that he was tall and though he looked skinny his build was definitely formidable. Then he stepped into the light and Lor's excitement turned into disbelief and horror.

It was John Harrison.

"What the fuck?" She cursed softly as she stared at him.

"Its Level Seven dude," Oliver explained looking at her shocked face. "Wait, do you know him?" He asked seeing her stare a t him. "How do you know everybody?" He muttered a little baffled by her behavior.

He wore a dark blue t-shirt and black pants and looked ready to get down to business, his eyes trained on where the robot would come from he suddenly looked at the sidelines and directly at Lor. He said nothing but continued to stare at her regardless of how uncomfortable it made her feel, she'd successfully avoided him and not seen him for so long. Now she could feel his gaze burning into her eyes as they stared at each other, she had to get out of here quickly, as soon as he started fighting she would leave.

How had he known about this place? Did he follow her that night when she came here in anger? Was he waiting for her to come back so he could ambush her or something? So many questions rushed through her mind all at once she almost missed him crush level one with a single punch. But Lor already knew that he was strong, if she couldn't beat him and she couldn't beat level six then of course he would have been able to make it to level seven. Why his face never came up when she was thinking about level seven was a mystery to her, because it could only be him.

Her stare was frozen on the fighting area as she watched him easily take out Level two and then continue to stare at her, it was when he started level three that she got up and explained to Oliver she had some work to finish. He nodded with a grin on his face and said it was her loss before turning back to look at John as he took out level three just as fast as the two before it. Again his eyes found her as she pushed back everyone who was watching and disappeared into the junk piles where Felix was working. His work place was the closest to the back exit and Lor figured he would like it if she said goodbye before ducking out for the night.

"Came back to help me?" He asked with an excited smile on his face.

Immediately Lor wanted to say no, that she had to leave and fib about needing to get some work done but he looked so excited, and she did say that she would help him.

"Only for a few minutes, I have to meet someone at," she paused to look at her watch. "Eight forty five," she muttered as it was already about eight twenty two. Felix smiled at her when she said she would help him even when she had to be somewhere she was taking out time for him.

"I won't keep you long," he assured her. "Just stand in front of the robot and lean back and forth, I'm testing out his vision and it's easier with two people," he explained before going around to the back of the robot.

"Sounds good," Lor muttered glancing behind her nervously. One of Daki's rules was that you had to fight all the robots in order until you were too tired and couldn't fight anymore or if you were seriously injured he would stop you. But you couldn't just duck out for no reason, so Lor was thankful for that at the moment. "So just sway?" She asked starting to waver on her feet ever so slightly.

"Yeah, okay, turning him on now," he said before there was a soft sound and the robots eyes flickered slightly. Though he'd been turned on the robot wasn't moving at all, Lor was doing her thing and yet it was just standing there like the colossal piece of metal that it was.

"He's not moving," Lor muttered staring up at the huge monster. Felix murmured something before the thing finally started to move back and forth ever so slightly, though it was only his shoulders and head that were doing the moving. "Now it's only his shoulder, he doesn't seem to have control of his hands yet," she explained continuing her sway.

"There," Felix said in an excited voice.

Suddenly the robot stopped moving all together, Lor stopped moving as well and stared up at the thing, wasn't Felix supposed to have just fixed it or something? Lor got a little closer to it to see that its eyes were still glowing faintly, so it was still on just broken, why would Felix break it?

Without warning the robot stepped away from Felix and swung his fist at Lor quickly, she barely dodged away from it in time as it swung at her again. Her eyes widened and she looked towards Felix who was trying to get back at the wires and controls, while she dodged for her life.

"Felix, turn it off!" She shouted at the man as he did his best to get to the controls. The area was small compared the fighting zone and Lor was quickly trapped against a wall with the massive Level Eight in front of her. She dodged his fist again before a metal hand clasped onto her neck and lifted her into the air against the wall.

"Felix," she gasped his name out shortly. He shouted something frantically before yelling something else but Lor was hung up on her own thoughts as she did her best to breathe despite the metal hand clamped around her throat. Stupid Felix, she should have just left him to his dumb robot named Frank.

What would Bones say if she didn't came back at all? Lor growled around her prison and swung her fists weakly at the robot holding her; it seemed to have the expression of a sneer on its face. Pulling Lor away from the wall for a second it slammed her against it again making her head ache viciously, her hands grabbing weakly at the metal arm. Would they put it in the news? Starfleet scientist killed by malfunctioning robot. She didn't even get to find her father.

Lor had just about started to black out when the robots grip on her loosened ever so slightly, she opened her eyes weakly to see John in front of her. In his hands was a broken leg of a robot that he was now using to beat down on the hand that was holding her, he glanced up at her for a second and she could see worry in his eyes. But that was the extent of her strength and the last thing she remembered was the weightless feeling of falling before her world turned dark.

0-0-0-0-0

He thought it was silly that Loralie would go to such a place as the Bust every so often to test her fighting skills, especially when she left such a tattered and bloody mess, what was there to gain from that? But after John had tried it out he found that fighting the higher level bots was kind of entertaining, it had been a while since he'd fought something so quick. The owner of the building praised his technique and strength before mentioning a few people that would be jealous, Loralie's name was included.

It had been revealing to watch her fight the first night, how her anger came out controlled and yet somehow she lost control as it turned into punches and kicks. She was strong, he knew that much but when her emotions got the better of her she slowed and lost a bit of her vigor. He'd felt a sort of anger when he saw her sitting in the chair defeated.

John knew that she was hiding from him at the Doctors apartment and avoiding him by always sticking to her friend, but he could wait, eventually something would anger her, as it always seemed so easy for him to do so, and she would be back.

During the day when she thought she was safe he watched her work and communicate with other people, she was kind in her own way. Her interest in new planets was something he now understood after reading her files; she researched everything up to a certain point and then left the planet alone when nothing was of use to her. The way she took notes was almost a little strange as she always seemed to get bored and start drawing someone's face on the sides where she had room. John quickly realized that it was her father's face, the same one that she could never finish and so there were random noses, eyes, and mouths scattered everywhere.

He'd investigated the kid named Oliver after Lor had seemingly suddenly found an interest in the Academy student, he was of no threat. John faintly wondered why he had even looked up the boy in the first place; anyone could immediately tell that she was merely talking to him because he was there, but he had been curious.

Finally she came to the Bust again and her shocked eyes locked with his as he stared into her, he was amused by her reaction, that she looked so fearful of him even though he had not done anything to seriously harm her yet. He almost wanted to smile when she got up to leave him, he looked at her as she disappeared around the corner and wondered if he should follow her back to the doctors place tonight.

Landing a swift punch to Level fives hips John dodged any feeble attempts the robot mustered to fend him off; he was already bored with the slow hunk of metal. It was really only six and seven that gave him any sort of thrill when it came to fighting.

"Daki!" A voice yelled loudly throughout the building. John finished the robot quickly while everyone in the building seemed to freeze at the sound of the voice. It sounded frantic and scared, frightened enough to pierce through anything that had been happening and stop it.

"What does that fool want now?" Daki muttered moving quickly towards Felix's work space.

"He's got Lor!" His voice shouted again. His shout made everyone freeze for a second before John hurtled over the railing of the fighting area and rushed to where the man's voice had come from.

A lot of things were going through John's mind and at the same time he could only imagine what trouble Lor had gotten into, that he would make it before she took her last breath or not. For the man screaming sounded very much scared and in horror of whatever he was watching unfold.

"Hurry!" Felix's voice yelled. Daki was running now, worry soaking into his eyes and into his skin, but John was in front of him.

Weaving through the piles of trash John came upon the robot that Felix had been working on all night, the robot that was mean to be John's next fighting partner. The hulking thing was much taller than him and more heavily plated than any other robots that John had fought before. A small sound reverted John's eyes to Loralie's form that was pinned against the wall, her almost limp hands were holding onto the robots wrist pathetically.

There was an immeasurable rage that rose within John when he saw her, a stifling emotion that he let run rampage on his form as he grabbed the metal object closest to him and swung it at the bot in front of him. The man behind him was muttering something nervously as he tried to get at the control panel that was now blocked by metal plating.

"Hit his shoulders," Felix yelled at John. "It's his weak spot," he explained picking something up and swinging it at the bot viciously.

Loralie's hands fell limply to her sides just as John swung his weapon at the shoulder of the beast, its grip on her loosened a smidge before her eyes blinked open slowly and she locked eyes with him. But she was too weak to hold his gaze.

Noticing a bit of blood behind Loralie's head John's rage seemed to renew as he attacked the things shoulders faster and stronger than before. She couldn't die just yet, not when he had so many questions about her father! If she died than everything he'd spent the last week doing would have been for nothing, and he hated wasting time more than anything else.

Landing a really good blow John watched as the robots arm, from the shoulder down, began to disconnect from its body, Loralie's limp form started to slide down the wall before John caught her in his arms. Daki and a few others were working on ridding the robot of his other arm while a few others helped Felix break into the control panel. Taking Loralie away from the ongoing battle John carefully took off her jacket and used it as a pillow/bandage for her injured and bleeding head.

"Silly girl," he muttered letting his fingers trail over her horribly bruised neck. If she had never run away from him in the first place none of this would have happened. Now she was a mess, though her sickly pale skin would make most think she was dead John knew she was still alive, she wouldn't let herself die that easily.

When Daki came over with bandages John explained that he was her coworker and that they were also friends. Daki professed his concern for her deeply, that she was a nice girl and didn't deserve this, John agreed with him and the man asked if he would be willing to take Loralie to her friend because he was a doctor.

"You're talking about Dr. McCoy," John stated watching Daki's face break out into a rough sort of smile.

"The one and only," he grinned before patting John on the back. He mumbled his thanks before grumbling lowly under his breath about the stupid mechanic that had caused everything to happen. John picked up Loralie carefully, making sure her head wouldn't loll around when he walked he tucked it against his chest.

There were a few times when he'd spoken to her that John realized how very small and fragile the girl was, and still when they'd fought she had potential to be strong, perhaps if she had been fighting someone else she would have won. But the way her body leaned against his as he carried her, the soft features of her face as she slept, something inside him stirred and he recognized what the emotion was right away.

John ignored the fact that the doctor would have been a great place to take the injured Loralie and instead took the girl back to her apartment. They were in the elevator when her body started to loosen from his hold so he shifted positions until her head was resting on his shoulder next to his face. From here he could see the bruising on her neck was already horrid looking, explaining this to anyone would be a hassle. When the elevator finally dinged open John took Loralie to her room and placed her small body on the bed before getting some medical supplies, though she did not have much it was enough to treat the bruises.

Now he would wait until she woke, the simple fact that he'd saved her life gave her enough reason to answer his questions, it was the least she could do. If she refused, it would be easier to threaten her with pain since she was already injured a careful squeeze of her neck and she would be almost limp against him. John also knew where the doctor lived now, and he guessed that she would do anything to not get him involved.

He had her now.

* * *

**BaB: And that was chapter four! I have to say that once I had the idea for this chapter I couldn't get it out of my head, even when I was in class it was still there. Which is good and all, having ideas, but I didn't learn anything in class, I don't even remember what we talked about or what the teacher said. Oh well.**

**What did you think? Tell me, tell me, tell me...Please?  
**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**BaB: Thanks again to Tex and kiel...I'm sorry your name escapes my mind, but I know who you are so thank you for reviewing. Sorry for mistakes, read through and yet I always miss things. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Lor was aware of the terrible ache in her head as she awoke slowly, as soon as she opened her eyes the light of day blinded her and sent an awful pang of agony to her growing migraine. Lying still for a few minutes she tried to regain her memories as to what had happened. There was the image of Felix's terrified face as he pawed nervously as the blocked control panel; he looked like he was about ready to cry. His mouth had moved while his face contorted into one of horrified misery as the robot pulled Lor from the wall and smashed her against it.

That was when her vision and memory got a little fuzzy, there was the feeling of warmth on the back of her head and neck, Lor knew immediately that it was blood and her stomach twisted. The lack of air made her want to pass out and give up but she was far too stubborn to allow that right away, but she just wasn't strong enough. She remembered the feeling of the metal on the robots arms as her arms fell limp to her sides before the grip loosened on her. For a single moment, she opened her eyes and saw John beneath her, fighting to free her, he'd come to save her. That was when everything had turned black.

Moving as gently as possible Lor gasped slightly when moving her neck even the slightest bit sent terrible pain down her body, all she managed to do was sit up, taking quick painful breaths as she looked around her room.

"I thought your body would rest longer, but I was mistaken," John's deep voice spoke softly. Lor didn't turn her head as he entered the room, though she wanted to it was obvious that it would hurt her far too much.

"I'm," Lor tried to speak but found it hurt even more to speak than to breathe. But she wasn't going to let that stop her, she'd almost died but that didn't mean she would be helpless against him. "Not that weak," she rasped out shakily.

John stood passively in front of her, he didn't smile nor give any expression of pity for her, not that it mattered, and it was what she'd expected him to do. Frowning deeply Lor pushed her weak form to the side of the bed and moved her legs over to the side of it, he simply watched her with a hint of interest in his eyes. Humans were supposed to be weak, after an attack like that most would be asleep for days and then barely be able to utter a word after their vocal chords had almost been crushed.

Narrowing her eyes, Lor was determined to stand and move, she'd had sore throats before and usually a cup of tea always felt great against the scratchy ache that never ceased. Looking down at her clothing she almost sighed in relief when she saw that they were the same clothes that she had been wearing before. It seemed that he'd only taken off her shoes for she felt the cold carpet beneath her feet as her legs made ready to hold her body upright. Ignoring the pain in her head as the room began to swirl she pulled herself onto her feet, wavering slightly John watched her effort carefully.

The first few steps were the hardest and made her eyes swim and her head ache but she forced the feeling away, this was about proving herself to the man that had was better than her in every way. She could at least do this much, for if she had stayed in bed and mulled over her mistakes and tried to ignore him he would eventually get to her.

With a simple blow to the head a human would fall to the ground limp or dead, and yet Lor had had her skull bashed against concrete, her neck was a mess of purple, green, yellow, and black bruises and here she pushed herself to stand. Watching her intensely John had many questions going through his head; there was a lot of her that was human, her emotions, her compassion, and thought process. But she wasn't completely human, was she?

For here she was in front of him now, frowning bitterly as she walked out of the room and into the kitchen while her legs shook and rattled with every step. He felt the need to reach out and steady her, there was no reason for her to fall and injure herself if he was so close.

The tile of the counter beneath her fingertips was cold and Lor had the urge to put her face against it to cool down her mind as it reeled and nausea rose in her throat like a vile storm. Reaching into one of the cabinets beneath her sink Lor sighed with relief when she felt the rough fabric of the pouch of pain killer that she had taken from Bones. Normally she didn't have use for them because the pain was so dull by the time she returned home that there was no need, but right now she welcomed the injection as it sunk into her skin. It didn't take long for the pain killer to kick in; finally her eyes were able to focus on things as Lor reached for a mug.

"Do you," Lor's voice shook again as she forced the words out of her mouth. "Want some tea?" She finally got the question past her lips as she turned to look at John. His icy eyes trained on hers as soon as the query left her form, her eyes were tired and pained as she looked back at him.

"No," he said sternly. Lor looked at him disappointed before turning away from him and sighing slowly.

The man had saved her life, if anything she was feeling incredible grateful despite the fact that she knew she should hate the man. The feeling of disdain was slowly melting away from her mind as she remembered him looking up at her while she was suffocating. She couldn't describe what the emotion looked like, but it was warming and reassuring feeling.

"I'll answer your questions," she spoke while warming the water for tea. "But after you've gotten everything you need from me," her tone quivered at the strain. "I don't want to see you again," she finished while reaching for a box of tea. She decided that it was what would work best; as long as he got what he wanted he could leave her alone right? After all it wasn't as if he needed her, he just needed the information that she had.

His eyes never left her form as she spoke, her legs still shook slightly as she held herself up and tried to look strong, John wanted to smirk mockingly at her efforts. The human was trying to strike a deal with him.

Hearing John take steps towards her Lor didn't turn around to meet him and merely continued to place the bag of leaves into her tea, he stopped right behind her. Lor tried to ignore the way his breath touched her ear and made her shiver while she dabbed the tea bag up and down slowly.

"And you will answer everything?" He asked her darkly. When Lor didn't answer right away he leaned forward slightly and pinned her against the counter with his body. She wanted to growl at him but was sure the act would cause more damage to her throat than it would to him.

"Of course," she said turning her head to look at him. He moved away from her a little, Lor went back to her tea and reached for the honey, which happened to be on the highest shelf in her cabinet. Whenever Jim came over, which was rare, he would always put the honey on the top shelf because he knew that Lor would not be able to reach it.

Standing on her tip toes she reached for the honey angrily, mentally cursing out Jim and his awful habits, her fingers barely brushed the bottle before John reached past her and grabbed it easily. She lowered her hand away from his and cast her eyes down to her darkening cup of tea. Whatever he was trying to do, intimidate her, threaten her, or warn her? It was working.

"Even if it's painful?" He pushed the question further. He moved away from her suddenly, placing the honey on the opposite counter Lor turned around to look at him, the emotion in her eyes made him intrigued.

"I'll answer it."

0-0-0-0-0

The tea was too hot and Lor burned her tongue while watching John sit down across from her at the table, even though he had stated that he did not want tea she'd made it for him anyway. Lor had made sure to call Bones and tell him that she'd caught a cold from her new professor friend and was staying over at the imaginary woman's house. He laughed at her, commenting on how she was only able to make friends through some sort of tragedy.

After some ten minutes of silence as they sipped their tea John started off with some simple questions about the other people that had died in the crash. Lor frowned and answered him, though she was sure he already knew who they were, had she not already spoken of them?

He seemed very intent on making her recall the most painful of things, the smile the woman had given her before taking her away, the child in the wreckage who Lor claimed was her brother. She hated Orda for taking her away from her father, she was happy that the woman had died in the crash, but perhaps if she was still alive she'd have more answers to her own questions. The only person she felt bad for at all was Kra, Orda's son who'd died in the crash; he hadn't even stood a chance of survival.

"Were they planning on going to Vulcan?" He pushed further when she seemed vacant of information. Lor was beginning to get a headache from all the questions and trying to recall everything that had happened on that night so long ago.

"Would they really tell me that?" Lor countered seeing his eyes darken she stopped short. "I was a child, I don't even know why they took me in the first place," she explained shortly. When Orda had grabbed her after she'd seen her father the grip had been so tight it hurt, but at that moment all Lor had cared about was her father.

"There was nothing wrong with the ship's controls, or even the engine, do you remember why it crashed?" He said standing up just as she stood. "There was a wound on the back of the pilot's head that caused his death before the ship even crashed. Was it Orda that shot him?"

Lor froze at the question; she'd been asked the question before by countless detectives and others who wanted answers on why a perfectly able ship would crash in the first place. She never told them the truth.

"I," she stopped herself short as the memory pounded into her head painfully.

Orda had let Lor go as soon as the ship was free and on its way, she'd sighed in relief as the little girl in front of her ran to the closed doors and screamed for her father. Someone laughed nervously about something as Lor cried and banged her small fists against the metal of the ship.

"Jiorda and the rest of them will leave as soon as they're finished," Ivan muttered sitting down next to the pilot sluggishly. "Lora, won't you come over here and sing me the song you learned," he smiled over to Lor cheerfully.

"What about papa?" She whimpered through her tears. Ivan and Orda exchanged a nervous look before Orda went over to Lor kindly with another smile on her face.

"Lora, your father he," she tried to find the right words. "He's going to meet us there," she laughed timidly.

Lor remembered the realization as it struck down upon her, her father had always warned her not to believe someone just because they were smiling. With what had just happened it would be impossible for her to believe that her father would meet them there when they had just stolen her away from him. As a child Lor only understood that Orda was lying and that she wouldn't see her father again as long as she was with them.

An unimaginable amount of hatred came upon Lor at that moment even as a child she knew the hatred for those who had taken her away from her father. She wasn't as immature as Kra, her father had taught her many things, but she'd never felt anger like this.

"Why did we leave him there?" She'd asked with a tear and snot covered face. When her father was angry he was very good at keeping it hidden until he was alone and could release it, so Lor simply mimicked her father.

"He had to get everything ready silly," Ivan said with a laugh. Lor's stomach had twisted painfully at that comment; they were all lying to her. When Ivan got up to comfort Kra, who was still crying softly, Lor saw the glint of a gun on his belt.

Ivan had brought a gun just in case Lor's father had gotten close enough to reach out for his daughter, in the end he hadn't needed to use it but perhaps it would have been better if he'd never brought it. He might still be alive if he didn't bring it.

From that point on Lor remembered very little of what happened next, there was the faint glow of lights as the pilot was the only one still awake while the others rested. The cold feeling of the gun in her hands as she took it from Ivan's belt carefully, the pilot was awfully tired as well and did not hear her soft steps behind him. She aimed the gun at him just like she'd seen others do for practice, but she got nervous and scared and pulled the trigger on accident. There was a burst of color before the ship started to sink and Orda and Ivan leapt from their slumber and rushed to the pilot before screaming in rage.

"We should have left her!" Ivan yelled angrily as he pushed the dead pilot out of his chair. But Ivan was not a pilot, and they crashed.

"I killed him," she muttered feeling her voice give out. "It was an accident; I didn't even know how to fire the gun," she said raggedly. She'd already spoken too much for someone with an injured and bruised throat.

"So young and already a killer," John muttered shaking his head as if he disapproved of her. "What expression was he wearing when he died?" He asked making Lor shiver and flinch involuntarily.

"No more today," she said rubbing her shoulders as she shivered.

Looking at her blandly John walked away from her and into another room, she wouldn't answer anymore questions today, he could already see the defiant attitude in her eyes. He'd pushed her too far with the last question, but he wanted to see her expression as she mulled over the memory of what had happened.

He'd already known that she had killed the pilot, who else could it have been? Even so John studied her as she spoke, the tightening of her jaw as she ignored the sudden moments of pain that came with her injury. The way she spoke when something was boring, as opposed to when she was excited about the topic, he liked the way she shivered at her own thoughts and the way her eyes clouded over when she dove into her memories.

It made him remember how her skin had felt against him as he carried her, how would it feel to have her shake beneath his fingers as she recalled the face of her first kill? Would her eyes cloud over if he asked her how heavy the gun was in her hands? When he had pinned her against the counter and reached around her to get the honey he was reminded of how small she was against him. He could crush her easily, couldn't he?

0-0-0

That night Lor had a familiar dream, though it was more of a nightmare than anything, John's question had made her mind summon up something that had lain dormant for a very long time. It was something that often plagued her dreams as a child; her foster parents always woke her up after she'd started crying in her sleep. But it had only happened for a couple years after the crash until she'd found other things to occupy her mind.

Unfortunately there was nothing else but that memory on her mind tonight, and so nothing to distract her dreams from recreating the same image as her childhood.

She woke quickly, breathing deeply as the sight of her father's blood covered face was still fresh in her mind. The nightmare was such an old enemy that Lor had forgotten how terrifying it was, ripping her out of any feeling of safety she had and turning her into a shaking mess. It was just as it had been as a child, she was already crying when she woke up, the tears streaking down her cheeks and onto the sheets of her bed.

Her shaky breathing and harsh breaths made Lor's throat ache as she let the rest of the water in her eyes leak down her face as she chased the fearful emotion away. She let a few more quiet sobs escape her lips as she covered her eyes with her hands before wiping them down her cheeks.

"What did you dream?" A deep soft voice asked softly. Lor stopped her actions of drying her face and covered her eyes once again, she didn't want to look at him right now, but even in the dark she could feel his eyes on her.

Instead of answering him Lor turned onto her side, keeping her back to him she pulled the covers over herself slowly, sniffling painfully. She shook her head though she was almost positive he couldn't see it, she couldn't tell him, not when she couldn't even speak yet, he would mock her for being weak. The bed sank down ever so slightly as John sat down on the opposite side, Lor didn't turn to look at him. John expected her to yell at him to get out, to go away, but she said nothing and continued to stare away from him.

"It's alright," he soothed her reaching to touch her covered shoulder. It was shaking beneath the sheets, and John felt the urge to put his hands beneath the covers and feel the shake of skin on skin. "Tell me," his voice was a little sterner and immediately Lor remembered that she was to answer all his questions.

"He always told me not to go into that room, but in my dream I ignore his words and he reaches out to stop me but I'm already gone," Lor's voice shook as she spoke. "When I see him again his face is so fearful and horrified as he screams my name, and I chase after him. But he's already dead," she whispered the last part.

At this point in her explanation Lor's body began to shake even more and John could almost feel the tremble transferring over to his own body.

"No matter what I do he always dies, and the blood drops down his face in little rivers as he wears the same horrified expression," she whispered as tears began to fill her eyes again. "Even now I can hear him screaming for me," she shrunk into her covers even more.

"Calm yourself," John murmured kindly before rubbing her arm. "How can you dream about this when you haven't even found him yet? You did not see him die, so he is still alive," John spoke so forcefully Lor wanted his strength.

"I wish I could believe that," she whispered. "If I ever find him I'll be happy whether or not he's alive or if it's just a dead body," her voice was so soft John had to strain to hear it.

"Loralie," John started to speak when Lor cut him off sharply.

"My father always called me Loralie, everyone else called me Lora, he used to hate it when they called me that," she spoke gently. John pulled his hands away from her when she stopped shaking and spoke of her father fondly; her voice was almost tranquil as she remembered him.

Letting her body fall onto her back Lor turned and looked up at John with an expression of agony, the covers shifted and exposed her bare shoulders to him, and he could see them faintly in the dim light of the moon. There was still the shine of tears in her eyes as she looked up at him.

Lor had to remind herself that he didn't want to comfort her; even if his deep voice was enough to quiet her mind he wasn't there to soften the blow of her dream. In the end all he wanted was information, that was why he'd asked her about her dream, if he thought there was some sort of viable information he was mistaken.

"If it gets any more painful than this, it will be harder for me to answer," she spoke tenderly. "But I will try," as she said this a single shiny tears fell down her cheek.

There was a strange urge within John that made him reach for her but she had already turned away from him again and brought the covers up to wipe at her face. Rising from the bed he left as silently as he had entered, leaving Lor to her own thoughts he went back to his own.

0-0-0-0

John was gone the next morning when Lor woke up, she had not the faintest idea to where he could possibly have gone, besides asking her questions he'd scarcely spoken of anything else. Her head was still pounding slightly, though not as bad as the day before when she'd been blinded by the light. She'd make sure to call into work and tell them that she was still sick and would need time to recuperate without drugs to help her deal with the pain.

The first thing Lor did was take a shower, she was tired of the blocky feeling of dried blood in her hair from her head injury, the water would sting as it beat down upon her. But it would be a welcome pain because it would mean that she was cleaning the wound and ridding her mess of hair of crusty redness.

Steam soon shrouded the bathroom and began to seep out from under the door, it made Lor almost choke on the air as it got muggy and heated around her, but she didn't much mind. Stripping her clothing from her body she was careful of her neck as it still burned when she turned her head to sharply or rubbed something against it. The water was hot against her skin as it almost caused her to cringe away from it, but she quickly adjusted to the temperature and reveled in the warmth that enveloped her skin. She washed her hair gently, careful of her wound, before cleaning the rest of her body just as tenderly.

Even when she was done with her longer than usual shower John had not returned, so she went about making some food for herself, nothing to rough that would murder her sore throat, just some soup that would fill her stomach for now. As a second thought she left a bowl of it on the table, just in case John got back and he was hungry or something, he had to eat sometime right?

While eating her soup Lor found herself thinking about John and all different emotions his eyes had conveyed to her over the course of their encounters. There weren't many as John seemed intent at not showing her any sort of revealing expression, but there was enough of a feeling within his eyes that made Lor grab a sketchbook and her drawing pencils. For a moment she stopped herself from marking anything on the blank piece of paper and closed her eyes softly. Usually when she drew her father she would try to remember his smile, and his kind eyes, it was only when she got close to half way that her memories turned sour.

Without even realizing it Lor had already drawn about ten different pairs of eyes that belonged to John. Frowning at the sketches she ripped the page out and let it flutter to the floor before she drew his whole face in the expression that he most commonly wore. A bland expression with a more forceful and demanding expression that was prominent in his eyes only. For some reason Lor hated the picture and tore it out as well, starting on another picture of the man she hated, and then didn't hate but still wanted to hate. She hated how he'd saved her life and how she now felt a need to answer his questions regardless of how personal they were.

Tearing out another drawing Lor started on drawing the expression that she had seen the night before when John had looked at her near her jumping off point. The way he'd touched her shoulder was as if he was her friend and he knew how she felt, though he had no idea what was running through her mind. The way he spoke to her last night had been so soothing and calming Lor had wanted to reach out and touch him as soon as he said her name. He was strong and powerful while she was so weak, his deep voice could have easily lulled her to sleep.

Stopping herself short Lor growled softly at her own thoughts, despite the pain in her throat she forced such thoughts into the back of her mind. As soon as he got the information he needed John would leave her alone and she would never have to see him again, there was no room for thoughts as such. Beneath her messy hands, that were now faintly covered in led from her pencils, there was a worried looking face of John staring back at her. Lor scowled at it before crumbling it up in her hands and tossing it towards the trash can, she missed.

"Of course," she hissed watching it hit the wall and roll on the carpet almost mockingly.

Moving a few files off the couch Lor laid her body down across it, leaning up against the armrest she set about drawing her father's face again. It'd been so long since she'd had that dream and she'd seen her father's face covered in blood, the image would not leave her mind. As a child she had never tried to draw her father's face covered in blood, as it was already so traumatizing she didn't want to think about it much less draw it. But she was stronger now, if she could draw his face it would help her get rid of such an image, and she would finally have a full drawing of him.

The eyes were always the first thing she drew, which was a mistake on her part, because the eyes were always the hardest to draw. So full of emotion and regret, her father's eyes were always so painful in her drawings; she always drew them as she had last seen them. Yearning for her and pleading in terror to return her to him, his eyes were those of a man being ripped away from everything he loved most. It always made her remember what had happened on that day, and she could no longer finish the drawing for her hand would shake so terribly.

But perhaps she would make it this time.

0-0-0

The elevator dinged and let John back into Loralie's apartment, he'd left her alone for the morning in order to take care of some business. Though she had not left his mind during said business as he wondered what she was doing after waking up and seeing he was not there. His question was answered when he saw various drawings scattered across the floor, some of them were just sketches of eyes, or had the resemblance of a quick expression. He also noticed that there were a handful of crumbled pieces of paper by the trash can that had failed to make it in, while others were ripped so quickly from their home that they had been torn in the process.

Glancing into the first room, the one he had slept in the night before John tried to locate Loralie without calling out to her. Looking down the hallway toward the room she slept in John saw that her door was closed; upon walking closer he could hear the soft sounds of rain coming from inside the room.

Opening the door John's eyes immediately went to Loralie's form on the bed, she had thrown her body carelessly onto the sheets and let her arms and legs splay out at odd angles. She didn't look at him when he opened the door, merely continued to stare up at the ceiling, switching from an expression of shock to one of disappointment.

"I can't draw his face," she spoke without him even saying anything. Her voice was bland and rather monotone, as if she had said that phrase so many times it had lost all its meaning and original purpose.

"Your father?" John asked remembering all the eyes, noses, and mouths that were always floating around in her notes. She didn't answer him at first and instead tightened her jaw and made a bitter face towards the ceiling, as if she was making a hard decision.

"Every time I try to draw everything together my hand starts to shake," she muttered still not looking at him. "It's really stupid, I can draw everyone else's face expect his," she complained frowning irritated at herself. John turned to walk away from her and collect the drawings when she spoke again. "There's some soup on the table if you want it," she murmured dully.

Walking back out of her room John went to the trash can and started picking up all the balls of paper that she had failed to get in, there was only one in the actual can, perhaps she had celebrated when she made it. He gathered up the rest of the sketches that were on the floor before going over to the table and placing them next to the bowl of soup, he might as well eat it since it was there.

"Spoons are the drawer to the left of the sink," came Loralie's voice from her room. She'd forgotten to tell him that the bowls kept things hot regardless of how long you left them out and the spoons were hiding with the forks.

John gave her no answer but found the spoons and was soon sitting down and looking through her sketches while taking mouthfuls of soup every once in a while. The pictures of her father were different from the ones that were in her file, these were much more tortured and painful looking, the eyes screamed at him to run away. Unfolding the second to last paper ball John stopped short when it turned out to be a drawing of him, it was strange to know that she had taken the time to sketch his expression. The only thing that bothered him was that he couldn't remember making such a face as this, had he really looked at her so gently?

Curious now John sifted through the rest of the papers that had recently been scattered on the floor, a handful of them were drawings of his eyes and the different feelings he'd expressed through them. He'd never thought that Loralie would keep tabs on his emotions and jot them down in a series of sketches; he never meant to look this way towards her.

She must have drawn him before drawing her father, else why would his face be completely drawn out when her father was still only partially sketched? But why was she drawing him in the first place?

* * *

**BaB: So they made a deal, Lor will answer his questions as long as he disappears afterwards, do you think he actually will? I notice that my chapters are getting longer and longer, which is good I guess, do you guys prefer longer chapters or short ones?**

**What did you think? Is it weird that she drew him?**

**Review please? Feed me some of your answers, I'm starving and need feedback, feed it to me!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**BaB: I was painting today and in the middle of mixing a color I got a head ache so bad that I couldn't tell what I had already painted and needed to paint. This head ache lasted for about six hours, it's probably my new medication, my doctor said I might have some cross reaction that I could be allergic to.**

**Anyway, my point it I still wrote you this chapter despite having a faint head ache (it's died down and only hurts when I shake my head), so I hope you're happy.**

**I did check for mistakes, but my brain is a little messy right now, sorry if I missed anything. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The next day Lor answered all John's questions without emotion, her voice was like a tired professor giving his lecture for the third time in a row. Even when he specifically asked her questions that he thought would get a rise of her she answered them blandly; her voice was rough from her injured throat and sounded almost pained. But she did not let the agony show in her countenance, she'd decided that as long as she stayed detached from John everything else would be alright and fall into place. He would ask his questions and leave her, and she would stop dreaming about her father and when she was a child.

It was two nights in a row that'd she'd dreamt of her childhood now, the first was of her father's bloody face as he reached out for her, and the second was of a bunch of dead bodies lying stiffly on the ground. Lor didn't know what the last one was about until she turned one of the bodies over in her dream and it was her father. At that point in the dream her father had opened his eyes and gripped her throat tightly, Lor only woke up because John had shaken her awake. At which point she had moved away from him quickly and hid herself in the covers until he sighed and walked out of her room.

Today she would stay detached from anything John would ask her, because she did not want to remember anything else or dream anymore. But he saw things very differently, he wanted her to dream and to hurt so she would tell him of her dreams and perhaps he would know more about who she was and where she came from. Accordingly, he asked her the hardest of questions.

"How long did you live with your father?" He asked watching her reaction. Lor kept her tired expression on her face as she answered.

"I don't remember much before I was five years old, or at least, I think that's how old I was, there was just this light all of a sudden. But I remembered my father's face from before the light, so I knew who he was," she explained. "I don't even know how long we were together, one year, maybe two," her voice responded.

"What planet did you live on?" John asked feeling very much like he was a detective or therapist.

"I don't know," she muttered looking at him with her dead eyes. "I was always inside, and it was always night time when I looked out the window," her answers were getting shorter and shorter as the day progressed.

"Was it not important to you?" John asked getting a little frustrated.

"I didn't care, after being in the dark for long I was just happy that I had my father again, it didn't matter where we were, or what we did. I was ecstatic," she murmured letting a little emotion back into her voice.

"What is the dark of which you speak?" He pushed when he saw that she struggled when it came to talking about what it was like before she remembered the light.

"I just recall being in darkness, it didn't matter whether or not my eyes were closed or if I touched my face with my hand. Everything was black for a very long time, except that I don't even know if any time passed. For a young scared child it was crushing, I remember screaming and crying, sometimes when I go to sleep it comes back and I worry if I will ever wake," her voice was shallow and cold as she spoke of it. It was obvious that her memory of the darkness had left a plague on her mind; it was something to be feared.

"That is why you are always so tired, you fear that if you sleep too long you won't wake back up," he stated recalling the always sleepy look in her eyes.

"No one understands," she said breaking her emotionless façade. "I was alone, for so long there was nothing but the crushing darkness, I had only faint glimpses of a smiling face or kind eyes. I was sure that I would be there forever, but he came back for me," her voice trembled lightly at the recollection. "Even the shy mind of a child recognizes those types of feelings," she mumbled.

Thus there was an absence of sound as John processed her information and she in turn, mulled over hers. For a few minutes Lor looked over at John to see that he was already looking at her, so they held each other's eyes, her own green orbs were now almost blatant with the exhausted look that John had overlooked. It was something that everyone looked past, an easy thing to miss when you're not looking for it.

"I'm going back to work tomorrow, my new mission is coming up pretty soon," she muttered standing slowly. "How many more questions do you have?" She asked him coldly. John looked at her for a few seconds; he could ask her questions for a very long time.

"Not many," he answered staring at her as he always did.

"Good," she said shortly before going down the hall to her office.

Once she was inside and away from sight Lor let her body slide down the nearest wall, she'd been wondering if she would have to tell him about the darkness. She'd told very few people about it, Bones was not included in that list; he worried about her enough as it was, and there was no reason to give him another thing to keep tabs on. There was plenty of research that she did, but everything that sounded similar was in fact too loosely related.

The truth behind it was that the darkness of which she spoke scared her more than anything else, more than the fact that she couldn't find her father, or that she would never find him. As long as she woke up every morning there was this burning hope that everything else would work out, or that was the plan.

Taking a shaky breath Lor stood back up and used her desk for support, her injuries had healed up quite nicely, though she found that if her head slammed too hard onto her bed it did ache slightly. The bruises on her neck were gone, save for a small spot that kind of looked like a hickey, but come on, who would believe that it was?

0-0-0

Of course it was that night that Lor would dream of the darkness, it happened every once in a while, sometimes four or five times every two months. It was during that time that Lor got almost no sleep and would eventually crash, usually it was at work or when she was hanging out with her friends. They were always very surprised when their friend would be standing one minute and then falling over the next, she didn't even drink anything.

It was always dark, just as she had described it to be, even with her hand touching her face she could not see it. No matter how much she screamed the sound was muted as soon as it left her lips, she could walk forever and never see anything nor anyone. One time she'd been stuck there for two days when she'd passed out, after entering back into it there was no doubt in her mind that she would be there indefinitely. But she woke up, and henceforth has been very careful to sleep enough not to pass out as much.

Inside the dream Lor started to breathe heavily before telling herself that everything would be okay as soon as she woke up, she would make herself some tea with tons of honey to keep her awake. She'd go for a walk to wake up and suck in the cold night air like a sponge absorbing water, she would survive.

Time went by slowly, or quickly, inside the dream it was hard to gauge time and distance, it could have barely been minutes and still Lor would be screaming for escape. It didn't matter where she ran, how loud she shouted for someone to help her, it was just the blackness, the never ending dark that heard her voice and ignored her. And the silence, the quiet of her dream was always deafening to her ears, and yet there was never ay sound.

By this time Lor had been asleep for about an hour already and was freaking out quite a bit in her dream, but on the outside it looked as if she was finally sleeping peacefully. John glanced at her once before going to where he had spending his nights at her apartment, the past few nights she'd been thrashing and crying. Seeing her so serene made something within him feel lighter, though he shrugged the feeling away as soon as it arose.

An hour later Lor woke up, shaking and terrified she threw off her covers as if they were a plague and went to the thermostat in her apartment quickly, turning the temperature down considerably. When cold air blew out at her fiercely she sighed with relief when the freezing wind woke her up and sent goose bumps across her skin. This was how she woke herself up after rising from the dark that was her nightmare. In her frantic worry she forgot about John completely, the man didn't even exist in her mind right now.

0-0-0

The steep change in temperature was something that John didn't notice right away, but when he did there was only the question of, why? Walking out of his room he didn't even see Lor on the couch at first before going to see what the temperature currently was fifty degrees Fahrenheit. That was when John glanced into Lor's room to see that she was no longer sleeping as tranquil as she had looked, she wasn't even there.

Turning to look at the couch suddenly John was now aware of Lor sitting static and stoic as she stared at the wall in front of her, not looking at anything, just gazing. It was dark in the room with the smallest bit of light coming from the bathroom and lighting things up dimly. John could see the cold had already gotten to her as she was shivering visibly, with her knees pulled up to her chest she'd wrapped her arms around them. Her tank top and shorts pajamas made it easier to see the goose bumps all over her skin; she looked almost frozen sitting there.

"Loralie," John tried her name. She didn't respond to him, there was no turn of her head or even a sign that she had heard him at all, her body didn't move at all at the sound of his voice. Even when he touched her shoulder gently all she did was shiver, it was obvious that she had had another nightmare, but what had it been about this time?

Eventually John sat down next to her and tried a few more tricks, shaking her lightly, speaking her name again, waving his hand in front of her face; it was like she was a doll right now. Without thinking he put his hand on her cheek gently and turned her head towards him slowly, it took a moment for Lor's eyes to adjust and see him. At first it almost looked like she didn't recognize him at all before recognition flashed and she tried to move away from him. He let his hand fall away from her cheek as she glanced frantically around the room before opening her lips the smallest bit.

"Sorry," she whispered lowly. "I had to wake up, and stay awake," her voice was so soft John almost didn't hear her.

Immediately John knew what she had dreamed of, how he had not recognized it right away was folly of him, they'd just spoken about it today.

"How often do you dream about it?" He questioned her shaking form.

"Every once in a while, sometimes I don't wake up for a couple days," her voice shook when she said this. "But that's also because I don't sleep for a few days at a time," she added in a small voice.

"Oh doctor," John murmured shaking his head slowly. "You need to take better care of yourself," he said touching her shoulder gently. Her kin was cold to the touch; John could feel the small goose bumps as he soothingly stroked his hand down the length of her arm and back up. She shivered at the feeling of his fingers touching her but did not shy away from it, partly because she was too tired to care but also for another reason. It felt good, his skin on hers almost felt right, though she would not admit it to anyone.

If he was touching her and she wasn't tired or vulnerable or anything, of course she would shoo him away, but she was cold and frightened. For now she would accept his gentle touch and the sensations that came with it as if it was a handshake from one colleague to another. It was only when she began to get drowsy that she let her arm fall away from his bitterly, if he was trying to get her to fall asleep he was mistaken.

Standing up quickly Lor reeled for a second as her limbs adjusted to moving and bending, she needed her rest, to sleep and wake up refreshed the next day, but she didn't want to dream. Always when she slept there was some sort of dream that played in her mind, reminding her of the passage of time even while she slept. Very rarely did she have the good fortune of falling asleep so deeply that it felt like she woke within mere seconds of first closing her eyes, those were the types of sleep she liked most.

When she moved to get away from the couch John reached out and grabbed her wrist tightly, he needed the doctor to be healthy in order for her to continue to answer his questions. If she were to pass out for a few days like she said sometimes happened, there would be no time left before she went on her mission. And he wasn't ready for her skin to be apart from his just yet

"Let me go John," she said shortly while tugging at her arm.

"You need to sleep" he murmured pulling at her wrist. She stumbled backwards towards his form as he sat on the couch; she suddenly grew angry at herself for being so weak as to be pulled around by someone sitting down.

"No I don't," she growled rearing back to give her wrist a good pull.

At that moment John let her wrist go, Lor's eyes widened as her own body weight that she'd intended to use against John forced her towards the floor. In the last few moments before she hit the ground John caught her in his arms and pulled her back into the couch, trapping her from moving with his strong grip she was quiet for a few seconds before her anger kicked in full blast.

"You assface!" She raged at him. He'd let her fall just so he could grab her at the last second, her breathing was hitched in her throat as most people who just had a small heart attack. "Motherfu-," she began to curse at him again when he covered her mouth for a second.

"Shhh, shh, Loralie," he whispered into her ear softly. She shivered at the feeling of his breath on her earlobe, and in turn John felt the shiver transfer over to his own skin. Eventually Lor calmed down and John removed his hand from her mouth only to have her bitter eyes staring at him hatefully.

"I hate you," she spat out at him.

John merely stared at her as he always did, which made her narrow her eyes at him all the more. This man was truly someone that people had to experience in order to truly understand how infuriating he was. Huffing deeply Lor slumped against his form in defeat, hoping that perhaps in a few minutes he would know that she would not leave the couch and let go of her, but it didn't happen.

"Are you going to let me go?" She asked sullenly.

"Not until you fall asleep," he spoke next to her ear again. Lor made sure not to give him any sort of reaction though her skin itched to shiver at the softness of his breath that made her hair flutter ever so slightly.

"How charming," she muttered. It was silent for a few moments before Lor let an angry sigh escape her lips as she recalled how her breath had hitched into her throat when she felt herself falling before John had grabbed her. "I still can't believe you did that," she murmured with a hateful frown on her face.

"Should I have let you fall?" His voice spoke against her ear. Could he not just move his head to the left a little? Did he really have to speak right against the side of her head?

"You shouldn't have let me go in the first place!" Her voice rose as she her anger heightened.

"Your expression was interesting," he commented making her glare darkly at the wall in front of her. Lor grumbled a few curses at him under her breath, all of which he heard but decided against commenting on.

"Are you really going to wait until I fall asleep?" She asked when a few more minutes had passed and John had not changed his position at all. "Why does it matter anyway?" She asked exasperated.

"Do you like fainting?" He questioned turning his head to look her in the eyes. Lor stared at him defiantly before shaking her head with a clear frown on her face. "You only get trapped in the darkness for so long because you make yourself so tired and weak," he explained tightening his grip. "You can't even break my hold," he muttered getting closer to her face.

Lor bared her teeth at him and looked away suddenly with a growl, he didn't understand what it was like, to be in the darkness, to be truly alone, or perhaps he did. She wasn't one to assume things, but when it came down to it, no one knew dark like she did; they didn't understand the emotions that came with knowing there was nothing you could do. That she might not ever wake back up again because her father was no longer there to pull her out of it.

"I'm scared," she finally admitted with a trembling voice. With a sigh she turned back to John with a wounded expression in her eyes, something that John was not used to seeing. It pained her to even consider letting something so empty consume her and perhaps refuse to let her wake. "If I don't wake back up," she drifted off and looked away from him again. John felt weird looking at her.

"I'll make sure you wake up," he stated making her turn back to him. Lor noticed that their faces were so close to each other's that if she leaned forward even the smallest bit they would be kissing. What would it feel like to run her fingers through his hair?

"Why?" She questioned him. Lor stopped her thoughts short when they started to go awry, John didn't care about her, and she had to remind herself that all he cared about was his questions and her answers. "All you care about is information, that's why," she smiled sadly when she answered her own question.

"Loralie," his voice whispered against her ear again. Looking back into his eyes she kept her smile and her eyes changed slightly into a more understanding expression, she had to keep her emotions and thoughts in check.

"Don't forget, after I answer everything," her voice was soft and almost injured.

For a moment Lor had lost her thoughts to her heart and her heart had been screaming at her. Through all her years she'd never sought out a person's comfort, she had Bones, her friend, her _brother_, but there was never anyone else. It almost felt nice to have someone's arms around her, to hold her close and speak against her ear to see her shiver, in fact it had felt very nice. When he stood behind her Lor couldn't help but notice how strong his chest was against her back, the way he did not bend under pressure. If it had been with any other man besides John Harrison Lor might have leaned in to kiss him, but the truth was that she didn't have anyone like that. And the truth hurt, she was alone.

"I don't want to see you ever again," she stated leaning against him and closing her eyes. The faster she let herself fall into darkness the faster she could hope to wake and get the rest of the week over with until she left for her mission. Thus leaving John behind her, and finally getting him out of her life.

"I haven't forgotten," he whispered gently towards her.

The last thing Lor remembered was John's body heat next to her in the freezing apartment as her eyes drifted closed and black enveloped her vision and mind.

0-0-0-0

Slowly opening her eyes Lor looked around sleepily, she had not dreamed, nor visited the black after falling asleep next to John on the couch, but where was he? Right away Lor felt a loss of warmth as he was not where he had been the night before when they spoke to each other. Apparently when he woke, or when she fell asleep, John had found a blanket and draped it over her before laying her back against the seat cushions instead of sitting up straight like she had fallen asleep.

Sitting up and stretching against the couch Lor gazed around the apartment lazily, John was gone again, though she wasn't all that surprised. What surprised her more, and even pissed her off a little, was she got better rest sleeping next to a man she hated than she did in her soft and comfortable bed. Where was the logic in that?

After checking the time to see that she was late for work Lor rushed to get ready, taking a very quick shower before grabbing a pear and rushing towards the elevator. She was supposed to meet up with Bones before picking up Jim and heading to the Enterprise, they were leaving in four days. Lor was already way behind in getting everything ready due to her 'sickness,' Bones was only slightly willing to help her.

He was pretty much ready to go on the mission and grudgingly said he would help Lor catch back up as long as she helped train any new nurses that came aboard the ship. For some reason he really hated training the new people that came in, probably because it was so time consuming and otherwise unrewarding. It took her a few minutes to agree because Lor hated training new employees as well; they either took everything way too seriously, or gave her a dead stare. Neither of the two categories was ever too eager to take care of injured crew members when they came in, which made Lor yell at them.

"Why did they give me so much work to do?" Lor raged flipping through different files on the med bay's touch screen.

"It's punishment for being sick," Jim stated while passing by.

"He's such a good guy," Lor gave Bones a very sarcastic smile. It immediately changed into a frown as she turned to glare back at the screen

"Let's get to work," Bones grumbled.

0-0-0

It was the first day in a while that Lor worked straight through, usually she took her breaks and did her best to focus on whatever report they wanted her to write, but today was different. Since she'd spent the time she was supposed to be using working with John she wanted to get everything done quickly so it wouldn't pile up until the day before. She'd even sent Bones home when it was getting late; though he'd tried to stay she glared at him darkly, he'd finally muttered something about women being so quick to throw away help and left.

Lor glanced at a clock to see it was already about five in the afternoon and she'd not eaten anything since that morning, and even then it had been a measly pear. She guessed it was about time to go get something to fill her stomach, it couldn't hurt anyway. Quickly, she finished up what she was working on and rubbed her eyes sleepily before walking out of the med bay towards the cafeteria area.

There weren't very many people sitting at the tables, and the few that were there were people that Lor did not know and did not care to meet right now. A couple guys looked her way when she walked up to the serving area to get some food; she ignored them blandly and got a sandwich and some orange juice. It wasn't much of a meal but it was already pretty late and Lor just needed something to keep her tummy from growling at her angrily.

She sat down at a table with a deep sigh, placing her tray down carefully she yawned and covered her mouth with her hand while glancing around the cafeteria bored. It was kind of lonely sitting by herself, usually she had Bones next to her complaining about something, or Jim trying to chat up a girl, even Uhura was sometimes there talking about her 'boyfriend,' but today she was alone. Rubbing her arms self consciously Lor reached to grab her cup of juice; she wished Bones had stayed regardless of her words telling him to leave.

"Why are you still here?" An accented voice asked from behind her. She'd recognize Scotty's voice just about anywhere, it was the same with Chekov, it was part of the reason why she liked them so much and made her wish she had a cool accent. Turning to look at him she saw that his little alien buddy was not with him this time.

"Why are you here?" She threw back at him with a grin on her face.

"I asked you first," he countered before taking the seat in front of her. Lor had always thought Scotty was kind of handsome, but her mind was never on relationships and dating so she hadn't even considered him. But now that her emotions and thoughts were all weird she looked at him in a new light, or perhaps it was just the accent, girls always love a guy with an accent right? Perhaps in Chekov's case it was better if you understood what he was saying.

"Work," Lor replied staring down at her sandwich depressed. She then averted her eyes back up at Scotty before giving him a frown when he didn't answer in return.

"I'm always here," he said looking around frantically. "Like, always," he exclaimed making Lor laugh lightly. "Stay overnight, go home in the morning, it's a good deal. A few hours of sleep and then back to the ol' beauty," he said turning back to Lor to see that she was smiling at him. "What?" He asked looking at her expression.

"Nothing," she said giving him a silly face before taking a bit out of her sandwich.

"Oh great, lying is always a good way to start a conversation," he muttered shaking his head.

"Oh, shut up," Lor sucked some bread crumbs down the wrong pipe when he said that. Now she sat in front of him trying not to cough too much while he grinned at her like a mischievous child. "See what you did to me," she said brushing a few gagging tears from her eyes.

"That's not even that bad," he murmured shaking his head at her.

"Go get some food and stop talking," she coughed before drinking some of her juice.

"Fine," he said standing up quickly and walking away from her. "I'm not even that hungry," he shouted back at her.

Lor suppressed a smile that rose to her lips, it'd been a while since she'd hung out with Scotty, and she'd forgotten how much fun it was, he was always so quick to comment it caught her off guard. It was definitely something she needed after spending so much time with the emotionless and infuriating man that was John Harrison; he'd eaten away at her life and made her forget what it was like to have friends. He'd almost made her into the person she feared the most to become, someone who was so cold and alone they felt the need to cling to the closest sort of heat. Someone who could easily disappear into the darkness, but Scotty was helping her to remember that she wasn't alone at all.

They sat down and talked and laughed for a bit longer before someone asked them if they would get up because they had to clean the tables, Lor and Scotty looked around to see that they were the only ones still sitting. It was six thirty three; Lor still had quite a bit of work to finish and frowned as she told Scotty what was still left to do.

"If you end up working overnight, like someone in the room," he added the second part on quietly. "Make me walk you home in the morning so I have a reason to leave," he said with a laugh. "Otherwise I'll be here until we leave in a few days," he explained as they went towards the med bay. Lor chuckled at him before they got to her temporary office.

"How bout I come get you for breakfast, I finish up all of my work tomorrow, then you can walk me home tomorrow at say," she stopped pretending to think about it thoroughly. "Five, and then you'll get a full night's sleep," she said with s smirk.

"You're going to stay here that long?" He asked widening his eyes when she nodded.

"I want to get all my work done," she stated letting her comical expression fall away. She stared at him blandly; she hated the type of work that the higher ups always piled up on her.

"Breakfast?" He pointed at her.

"Breakfast," she nodded pointing back at him.

"Alright, see ya then," he turned away from her quickly and moved down the hall. "Don't fall asleep," his voice called back to her.

"Who do you think you're talking to," she shouted back at him.

She hadn't expected dinner to be so much fun, especially when she was stuck doing work with a crazy question man waiting for her to get home. Scotty was a good guy.

* * *

**BaB: I like Scotty... I think I like him more than I like John/Khan in the story right now. **

**What do you guys think?**

**Don't just think about the answer write it down and hit the submit button. I want to hear your thought process too!**


	7. Chapter 7

**BaB: Took longer to update this time, sorry about that. Health issues, CT scans and all that goodness that comes with my having a crappy body that hates me. Anyway, read through, edited stuff, still might have missed a few things.**

**Seven is my favorite number, expect a surprise somewhere in the chapter, perhaps something you've been waiting for or something. Hooray, Halloween is tomorrow, I'm going to scare kids. Hope everyone has their own type of fun.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Somewhere in the middle of working on a report Lor fell asleep for a good forty five minutes before waking up with a gasp and softly promising herself that Scotty would never know. Although the nap had been very short it had still given Lor a chance to dream, it was a strange thing that her brain showed her this time. Not a nightmare or anything of the nature, but something different.

When she closed her eyes for that almost hour her mind traveled back in time to when she was just a child and her father was showing her the rooms around her own. It had been a warm dream at first, Lor's father picked her up and spun her in his arms before he placed her on the ground and she fell over from the dizziness. He was gone when she lifted her head back up to look for him.

It was dark again, just as it always was in Lor's nightmares but this time there was a faint light out in the distance, it was new, usually in the blackness there was nothing but the shadow of her mind. At first Lor walked slowly towards it until she felt the need to run. As she carried herself further her strides began to get longer as she grew older and older until she was the same age as her current self, chasing after a light that only faintly seemed nearer. The soles of her feet began to hurt from the ever present pounding of them on the dark ground; Lor almost forgot that she was dreaming as the light began to shine brighter in front of her.

When she was close enough to it her legs strode forward and she reached out to touch the light only to have her foot catch on a protrusion in the ground. Just as she was about to touch it the brightness vanished from before her eyes as she was now falling into darkness once more.

"_No!"_ She'd shouted in her dream_. "Please no!"_

Looking back up as she fell Lor saw the light getting farther and farther away from her, all the running and hoping that this would lead her home, that it was something special were ripped from her mind. Suddenly the light was snuffed out completely and Lor woke from her dream with a jolt and a gasp, her heart thudded in her chest powerfully as she shook herself and went back to work.

It had been hard to get back into working after a dream such as that, it had been scary, the darkness, but not so much that she woke not wanting to go back to sleep. It had intrigued her, because never before had there been a light in the black that surrounded her, she kept wondering why it only appeared now. After so many years of going back to the darkness and being stuck in it why had the light never come and led her away, granted it had dropped her down a hole, but she'd woken up just fine.

Why now?

Finally Lor did manage to finish up all her work, save for one that she was saving for after breakfast when she could keep her eyes open a little better. Through the course of the night Lor had gone through the many stages of sleep deprivation.

There was the first step. Not being able to keep her eyes open to save her life and forgetting everything she read and looked at a few seconds later. The close and nod where she would repeatedly lean forward and pull herself out of sleep until she slapped her cheeks slightly aggravated.

Before she'd slapped her cheeks was when she'd gone on the light searching adventure in her dream before falling to her death and waking up.

Then she got to the point that everyone knows and loves, or possibly hates, about not being able to go to sleep. The point at which one is so tired that anything and everything is hilarious, misspelled words, funny planet names, the noise her chair made. Lor chuckled lightly at everything, even the idea of her previous dream was somewhat comical, and why the hell would she be running towards the light anyway?

At the moment as she walked down the hallway Lor glared darkly towards the ground as she made her way to where Scotty was. A few people tried to say good morning to her but all she wanted to reply was _'not when you don't sleep it isn't,_' but she held her tongue, being mean so early in the morning wouldn't be very productive.

It had been a while since she'd pulled a complete overnighter; she didn't count the short nap as sleeping, and it was weighing down on her greatly. Sure there were plenty of nights when she'd woken from a nightmare and had fitful sleeping the remainder of her slumber, but even then she wasn't this dead.

"Look who's walking," Scotty's voice called to her. He was walking down the hallway quickly towards her; she didn't understand how he could pull an all-nighter.

"You fell asleep didn't you," Lor accused him before turning around and walking with him.

"I was going to say that of you," Scotty defended with a playful shout. "If you fall asleep for a little while, that's what makes you grumpy," he explained knowledgably.

"So what makes you happy?" Lor asked giving his shoulder a small shove.

"Energy boosts," he said widening his eyes. "And friends," he added thinking of how his friend would throw stuff at him when he fell asleep.

"Ah shoot," Lor whined faking emotional hurt and pain. "I don't have any friends," she fake cried covering her eyes with her hands. Scotty laughed at her before they arrived at the cafeteria to see that there were more people than the night before, but not enough to point out anyone they knew. Lor got more orange juice, scrambled eggs, and some oatmeal, while Scotty insisted that a bagel was enough for him to be satisfied.

They ate in a comfortable silence for a while, Lor yawned a few times making Scotty curse at her for making him yawn as well, he was convinced she was planning on making him pass out early. She scoffed at him and growled about him trying to get under her skin and prove that she was grouchy even though she wasn't. Her mind wandered to her dream while Scotty gabbed about something that had happened during the night with his work, Lor was ignoring him, but doing a very good job of still looking interested.

Bones came in a little later and ragged on Lor for staying overnight when she was still recovering from being sick for so long, she got ready to glare at him before she yawned again and mumbled something about finishing her work.

"When you finish your work," Scotty started to say as Lor walked away.

"I'll come get you," she said turning her head over her shoulder to look back at him. "Then we can pass out together on the shuttle back to earth," she said in fake cheeriness.

"Did you make her stay overnight?" Lor could hear Bones questioning Scotty before she walked out of ear shot. She loved the man and his protectiveness, after all he was the only person whom she was sure worried about her, but sometimes it got a little old. No, no, she shouldn't think like that. The way Bones was, the way he sometimes spoiled her and treated her like a child, it was all she had ever wanted when she was little, for someone to care about her. Not a foster parent that was required to care, she needed someone like Bones to keep her in line and on task.

Walking into the med bay with a deep sigh Lor grabbed at the last bit of her work viciously, she was going to get the piece of crap done as quickly as she could. Then again with her current state of mind being so slow and inept it could very well take a few more hours than she had originally planned.

With a grunt Bones came into the room and dropped a bottle of water on his desk before looking at Lor and shaking his head disapprovingly. It was then that she realized that her eyes had been reading the same line over and over again for the past ten minutes while her mind was thinking about the small dream she had had.

"Did you at least finish all your work?" He asked gruffly.

"Almost," she said giving him a quick smile before turning back to her work. "Just one left," she grumbled glaring darkly at her desk.

"After you're done," Bones started talking to her before she cut him off quickly.

"Go home and go to sleep, get some rest, because I won't be able to snooze once we start our mission," she said in a bland voice before looking at him. He gave her a mocking grin.

"Like a chicken with too much feed," he growled before going off to do some work of his own.

"Did you just compare me to a chicken?" Lor asked with an angry laugh.

"Go back to work little hen," was his shouted response.

Frowning bitterly Lor turned back to her work, the man knew enough about her that he could easily get under her skin with very few words spoken at all. It was something she had not completely mastered over him yet and he knew it.

0-0-0

It was only an hour and a half later that Lor finished the last bit of her work and glanced around the med bay to see that there weren't too many people milling about. According to what she had told Scotty she still had quite a bit of time left before their agreed time of departure, perhaps she could shut her eyes for a few moments.

From the back of the room Bones watched as Lor lowered her head to her desk and ceased to move her head about anymore, he was wondering when she would fall asleep. Slowly going over to her he grabbed a blanket and draped it over her shoulders gently. Apparently she had some sort of thing going on with Scotty, no sleeping rule. The man had assured him that they were just taking the same shuttle to Earth, but it couldn't hurt her to get a little sleep.

Thus Lor was thrust into another dream this dream felt like it was moving in slow motion. As far as Bones was concerned Lor was only asleep for an hour, he wasn't aware what Lor was going through inside the dream.

Slowly the dream ended and Lor opened her eyes, lifting her head ever so slowly she stared off into space in front of her as she thought about her dream. It was another vision that she had never had before, and yet it was so familiar to her.

"Did you sleep well?" Bones asked walking past her.

"Sure," she answered without thinking about it.

There was an image in her head that she had to get out, of something she had apparently seen when she was a child, else why would it seem so recognizable?

"What's wrong?" Bones questioned her. He always noticed right away when something was off with her, when she didn't give him some sarcastic remark it meant that something was bothering her.

"Weird dream," she muttered grabbing her sketchbook from her bag and getting a pencil. She started with a faint sketch, stopped to look at it and then scribbled over it with angry dark lines.

"And you always have to draw what's in your dreams," he said in understanding. It was something she had done since he met her, at first he thought it was a little strange especially when she drew monsters and dead bodies. But by now he was used to it and didn't think anything of it.

"Just have to," she started drawing on a new piece of a paper and forgot about speaking for a few seconds. "Get it out," she murmured sketching a few more lines.

"You always do," Bones said sitting down at his own desk and getting to work.

Despite being excessively tired Lor was more than focused as she sketched out the thing that had been in her dream with such clarity. She didn't yawn nor did her eyes droop as she recalled exactly how it had appeared. Usually after taking a nap Lor was worse off than when she had fallen asleep in the first place, and so whenever someone suggested she take a nap and get a short moment of sleep she always huffed at them.

"Naps suck," Lor grumbled making Bones chuckle lightly.

0-0-0

At some point Lor looked at a clock and jumped to her feet quickly, quickly collecting her mess of papers and unsuccessfully shoving them into her bag before rushing out to make sure she had everything done.

"What the rush?" A nurse walking by asked her.

"I forgot about Scotty," she said with a morbid expression on her face. "Granted it's not the time we agreed on, possibly an hour earlier, but I'm tired," her voice got a little louder near the end. The nurse gave her a strange look that made Lor stop short for a second before continuing to stuff things into her bag. She then remembered as the papers fluttered to the floor that she had already closed it.

"You must be Dr. Finch," she said with a small smile.

"What does that mean?" Lor questioned wondering how her conversation and comments would reveal who she was.

"What about Scotty?" The nurse muttered going back to the subject of her friend to distract her.

"Right," Lor murmured looking towards the door. "Sorry about the mess, I'll clean it eventually," she grabbed her coat frantically and rushed out the door before poking her head in for a few seconds. "Bye Bones!" She shouted.

"He's not here right now," the nurse chided in. Lor was starting to dislike the nurse for the small fact that she seemed content on telling Lor that she was wrong and averting her attention away from the question she had asked her.

"Tell him I'll see him later," was all the nurse heard as Lor ran down the hall towards Scotty.

"Well, look who showed up," Scotty muttered as Lor meandered through the engine room.

"I'm actually early, it's not even five yet," she stopped herself short trying to remember if that was even the right time they had agreed on.

"Didn't think you would last this long," he laughed making Lor frown at him. "So, time to go home?" He asked looking at her slightly angry expression with a sheepish grin.

"I'm so tired I could fall over, stop being cheerful or I'll draw on your face when you fall asleep," she grumbled watching his eyes widen.

"What an escalation," he said going to get his bag. "Shall we?" He questioned motioning for her to go in front of him.

When they got to the shuttle a man told them that it would be another fifteen minutes before they left but the two of them were welcome to sit in the shuttle while waiting. Lor grumbled a, _thank you,_ and added an, _you're so generous,_ under her breath which made Scotty laugh and mumble that she was just tired and didn't mean anything by it. They sat next to each other and talked about the time when they had almost fallen asleep on the job before and what had happened afterwards, Scotty's stories were much better than Lor's.

"One time I was working on some machinery while we were in warp, a little ways up on a ladder," he started before Lor interrupted him with a disbelieving laugh.

"You didn't start to doze off on a ladder did you?" She shoved his shoulder gently.

"Fell right off it and onto a runner who was coming to give me some parts," he summed up with a sharp intake of breath. "He was not happy," he muttered recalling the event in his head.

"The only big thing that happened from lack of sleep to me was kind of bad," Lor murmured touching her head at the memory.

"It couldn't have been that bad," Scotty laughed. Lor gave him a challenging look that made him smirk and shove her shoulder back with his own. "What did you do?"

"So It's not that I pull all nighters like some crazy dude I know, sometimes I just don't sleep so well," her voice faded off slightly making Scotty's playful expression get a little softer. "Anyway, after a few nights of that, nastiness, I was helping Bones with some weird disease. We had been sitting down for about an hour or so, and you know when you suddenly stand up and it gets all kinds of fuzzy and light headed for a few seconds?" Scotty nodded his eyes a little wide.

"You didn't," he already knew what happened.

"Stood up, everything went black," she laughed lightly at the memory. "Hit the ground like a rock, cut my head open," she touched the scar on her head absentmindedly. "Yeah, Bones was not happy," she remembered the rage that followed her around for weeks after she was up and walking again.

"Does that happen a lot?" Scotty asked faking a grin. He didn't want to show her the worry that had bubbled up into his gut.

"Every so often," she commented as if it was nothing.

Scotty frowned at the knowledge, he liked to think that he knew Lor pretty well, but after hearing about this it was like a whole road stretched out in front of him. Everything he didn't know about Lor was written as road signs all across the road, and the road behind him was very short, including signs that had her name and the food she liked.

"Do you have nightmares?" He pushed her further. He liked Lor, so it was only right to get to know her more, even if she had various things wrong with her, he was willing to help. That's what you do for the people who are your friends and even more so for the people you might love.

"All the time," she said it while shrugging her shoulders. "But it's not something I like talking about," she explained with a softer voice. "If you're really curious about them you can ask Bones, he knows some of them," she muttered slumping against his shoulder tiredly. "Just tell him I said it was okay and he should spill at least one of them," she yawned before dropping her head on his shoulder.

"Well if you ever wake in the middle of the night and find yourself bored just call me, I'll be up," Scotty said trying to say something viable to the conversation.

"Thanks," she replied gently.

"Don't mention it," he smiled softly. "But really don't, otherwise Jim will come looking for me," he said trying to lighten the mood. Lor laughed and lifted her head while stretching her arms out in front of her form.

"I know he will," she said with a grin.

The shuttle started moving a few minutes later, Lor and Scotty delved into a conversation about how Jim had caused many troubled in their lives and in the lives of many other people. The topic shifted many times as Scotty walked Lor home when they got to Earth. Since it had started on sleep it only seemed right to end the conversation on sleep as it seemed they were both going to pass out as soon as they got home.

Lor only worried faintly about John being at the apartment when she got home, she was having so much fun talking and hanging out with her friends at work and with Scotty that John left her mind. It was only as they got nearer to her domain that she insisted to Scotty that she would be alright to get into the elevator by herself. He tried to walk into the building regardless and Lor finally said that she was on her period and needed to change her feminine stuff quickly.

Never before had she seen a man turn so red, it was a lie of course she just needed to get him out of here before John decided Scotty might want to join the whole ordeal. He kindly muttered something about it being an awful time of the month and hurried away with a shout that wished her to sleep well.

With a sigh she got into the elevator and went up to her floor, when the doors dinged open Lor was not surprised to see that John was sitting on her couch looking through another one of her files.

"I thought you'd read all of those by now," she grumbled making a bee line for her bedroom.

"Your friend seems nice," John said standing up and going over to her bag that she'd dropped carelessly on the floor.

"Really?" Lor questioned him as he opened her bag. "There's nothing exciting in there, and yes," she muttered stopped short when she saw the bathroom. She could at least wash her face before smashing it into some pillows for a while. "I actually really like him, and I do have to admit that the accent helps," she laughed feeling that perhaps her conversation with John was a little too casual.

Turning on the water Lor thought she heard John say something but it was lost in the rush of cold liquid that she was splashing onto her face. The water felt good on her skin, she hadn't even realized that after an all-nighter and napping on her desk a few times would mess up her hair and make her face oily and disgusting.

Walking out of the bathroom Lor glanced over at John to see that he was holding her newest drawing of the dream she had had earlier that day.

"What's this?" He asked her with a stern tone.

"I don't know, something I saw in a dream today," she hugged herself lightly at the memory of it. "I think it's from when I was a child, it was probably on the ship where my father and I lived," she murmured before turning towards her bedroom. "Do you think you'll be gone in the next few days? Because the mission is right around the corner," she yawned turning to look at him.

"Impractical," he muttered turning away from her and taking the paper with him. "What was the dream about?" He questioned her without turning.

"Sleep now, talk later," she called from her room.

"Loralie," his voice was stern as he turned towards the direction of her voice.

Walking out of the room Lor gave him an exhausted look as he gazed at her form up and down, she'd changed into a short little nightgown that was a soft off white color. With her legs and shoulders bare to his eyes John felt the rush of need rise within himself again, he'd felt it a few times when he was around Lor, but never this strong. Perhaps it was heightened by this new discovery or the simple fact that she had been with another man, but he felt that he had to have her. This time it was not enough to merely force the feeling back into his throat.

"Later," she grumbled turning away from him and walking back towards her bed. "Jeez," she murmured.

John followed her, watching her long silky legs moves as her toes sank into the carpet from her light weight as she moved away from him. The way the fabric about her hips swayed ever so gently as she walked through her door and into the area that was her room. Without noticing John behind her Lor moved her hair over to one side of her head, exposing her neck for the man behind her who was about ready to pounce on her.

The soft skin of her neck made him remember all the times she'd shivered as his breath had grazed her form, and the feel of her shaking body that he had felt beneath the skin of his palm that one night. Lor must have finally realized that he was behind her because she stopped walking and waited for him to stop right behind her like he'd already done a few times.

"I guess I can tell you right now," she sighed letting her shoulders fall a little.

As soon as she turned to face him John lost his control and went right for her lips. Forcing her back against the closest wall he heard her squeak in surprise before he silenced any further complaint with a bruising kiss. Lor pushed against him with as much power as she could muster but he didn't budge, if anything he pushed his mouth against her more as his tongue pressed at her closed lips. When her hands reached to grab something that might help her he pinned them against the wall with one of his own hands while the other traveled up her shirt towards her breast.

Gasping shortly John's tongue dove into her mouth quickly while his other hand made it to her breast; she'd taken off her bra as it was uncomfortable to sleep in but now regretted it. His fingers grazed over her soft skin and made her shiver visibly beneath him. Lor's thoughts raged through her mind quickly, she couldn't focus on anything, with John's mouth attacking her own and his hand exploring her chest she was at a loss.

Opening her eyes Lor was met with John's own powerful gaze as he successfully dominated her form, this was what he had wanted ever since the first tinge in his chest had bugged him wasn't it? Lor was a beautiful human, definitely someone that many men would fall over themselves to sleep with; even if he wasn't human it still affected him. The feeling of her smooth skin beneath his fingers, the way he could make her shake beneath him, it was very tantalizing.

Tightly closing her eyes Lor raged back at him suddenly, biting his tongue she tore her mouth away from his as he reared back angrily. She glared at him darkly from the corner of her eyes and took a swing at him when he released her hands while backing away. He caught her fist easily and jerked her body towards his before she swung her leg at him, to which he simply pushed her backwards forcefully. She landed on her bed slightly surprised before rearing to get on her knees and taking a defensive stance. Breathing deeply Lor snarled at him as new hatred blazed in her eyes.

He looked at her disappointed, there was no way he could feel something for someone as weak as a human, even if she was beautiful. Though he wouldn't call the creature in front of him right now human, what with the way she was glaring and snarling at him and the feral look in her furious eyes. Again John noticed that Lor was more of a wild creature than anything. He'd gotten excited and jumped to conclusions because of what he found in her bag today, but he shouldn't have let his feelings get the better of him. There was no reason for him to take action until he knew all of what had happened to her in the past, he didn't even know the truth yet, there was no reason to jump the gun.

"Next time no excuses, just answers," he stated bitterly before wiping a bit of blood off his lip. "That was just a warning," he sneered at her.

"Fine," she spat out at him.

"Go to sleep," he demanded of her before stalking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door closed Lor let her loathsome expression slip away from her as she fell back onto her bed defeated, he had just been warning her? It sure was one hell of a warning then, she was scared now, and yet she could still feel the burn of his lips on hers and the cold skin of his on her chest.

All her life she had had such a clear goal there had never been any time for relationships, Jim always made fun of her for being a virgin, not that she had ever cared. But no one had ever touched her like that before; just the feeling of another person's tongue in her mouth had been shocking. She'd kissed men before, but never like that, no one had ever been forceful with her, if they ever started to Lor was quick to get away. But with John she wasn't strong enough and there was nothing she could use against him.

Now, even more so than previous days, Lor was wishing she could depart for the new mission early, just to get away from such a man as John Harrison.

* * *

**BaB: Ooohhh no he didn't. I was wondering when to put kiss, kiss, love, love stuff in, and figured seven was as good a chapter as any.**

**What did you think? Moving too fast for you? Don't worry, I have plenty of other stuff to work out in the rest of the story.**

**Thanks for reading, give me a review?**

**Pretty please as a Halloween happiness gift?**


End file.
